Keeping Up Appearances
by DreamTurningIntoANightmare
Summary: After finding that Ron had cheated, Hermione finds comfort in an unexpected person. She decides to change her lifestyle completely, make new friends, and revamp her look. The only way to sell it, is to do something completely unanticipated. EWE.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's**** Note:** This is my first multi-chapter fic for Dramione, so please take that into consideration. I hope you like it! Also, check out my one-shot 'Not A Granger Anymore'.

**Disclaimer:**I do not own any of the characters in this fic or Harry Potter (unfortunately).

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Liar**

Hermione Granger did not like to be lied to.

Whether it was someone telling her they were fine when they were obviously not or whether someone told her that they'd be with her soon when they hadn't even left the house yet, it shouldn't be done.

So when her boyfriend, of nearly six years, lied to her, it wasn't something she took lightly. Especially when she realised he had probably been doing it for months.

Hermione had been extremely busy with work the past few weeks at the ministry and today had been no exception. She worked as a curse breaker at the ministry and it seemed that everyone wanted their problems sorting now. She had worked there when she finished her eighth year at Hogwarts after everyone had to go back and re-take their previous year. Having a school run by Death Eaters for a year really threw things off. Her partner, Tracey Davis, was nice enough though, even for a Slytherin. The two girls got along great, unlike the way they used to in school. Tracey and Hermione had let the past, be the past, and had moved forward with the present. The two women were now close friends and never had any problems at work.

That morning Hermione had had to solve an elderly witch's heirloom, a locket, and stop it from self destructing. To say that her morning was stressful was an understatement. But because she had gotten so much work done, she had been allowed to finish early and have the rest of the afternoon off. So, she went home to surprise her boyfriend after he had returned home from Quidditch practice because they never got to spend much time together anymore. Because of that they were growing much more distant, although it _could_ be because they didn't really have anything in common.

That's right, you guessed it. Hermione walked through the front door, dropped her handbag on the floor, and walked to the kitchen to make herself a drink, only to find one Ronald Weasley in a rather conspicuous position with a blonde girl on their kitchen table. The girl, who had yet to notice Hermione's presence, was still screaming his name like there was no tomorrow. Classy.

Ron, who had heard her arrive, looked up with panicked eyes and attempted to shove the girl off him but wasn't very successful as she was clinging onto him for dear life. Hermione almost let out a laugh at how pathetic he looked and if not for the situation, she probably would have.

Eventually the blonde realised what was happening and jumped away from Ron, but made no move to put on her clothes which were gracefully strewn across the room, some in Crookshanks' cat bed and some hung over the lamp on the bookshelf.

It seemed the whole room had frozen. Even Crookshanks, who was sat on the arm chair due to his bed being touched with clothes from the devil, seemed to notice the tension.

You could have heard a pin drop, it was that quiet. Hermione was the first to speak after what had to be the worst awkward silence she had ever encountered. "So I take it Quidditch practice wasn't strenuous enough?"

Ron played for the Chudley Canons, yet since he had joined the team, they had pretty much been at the bottom of the leader board. And now that the Quidditch World Cup was coming up, he really needed to up his game. Hermione still supported him at his games though, although she hadn't been allowed to go more recently. He claimed that it was "no place for a war hero". Even though _he_ was a war hero and yet he played for the team... now she realised it was probably because his other girlfriends were going.

"Hermione, it's not-"

"It's not what it looks like?" He nodded eagerly. "I could have guessed that much. So please, do explain why you were just shagging a random slut into the next century, on _my_ kitchen table."

The hopeful look dropped from his pimpled face. Now he just looked angry. His face turned to a colour that clashed with his ginger hair. He was angry that she'd walked in on them, like it was her fault. Obviously he'd try and turn it on her.

"How dare you come in here accusing me of such things Hermione! You've obviously had a long day." So he was going to play _that_ card.

Hermione glanced at the other girl who had now had the decency to put a top on. Good, she was making things even more uncomfortable than they already were. "No Ron, I have not had a long day, hence me being here now. And don't even try to get yourself out of this one." Her cool demeanour was slipping away with every word that she said to the man. "I know what I saw Ron and you've no doubt been doing it for months. How about that late Quidditch practice last Thursday? Were you _banging _someone then? Or the Canons' party on Monday night that you didn't think I'd want to go to? Or maybe even that drink you went for with Harry yesterday? Does he know about all of this? Probably not, because _he_ is not a lying, cheating jerk like you!"

"You bitch! Do you realise who you're talking to?"

"Well I hope so because this could be awkward..." Normally she wouldn't dare be sarcastic to Ron. If Hermione was ever sarcastic in front of Ron normally, he would threaten her to all that she was worth. However, she didn't really care for his 'rules' right now and Ron had many rules.

"Don't talk to me like that Hermione, always acting like you're better than everyone else aren't you? Well you know what, you're not. Why? Because you're a filthy mudblood Hermione Granger. And if you tell anyone of this, who do you think they'll believe? Harry Potter's best friend and pure blood wizard or bookworm Granger with the dirty blood?"

"I think you'd be surprised..."

She would have been able to stop him, had she not left her wand in her handbag, which was by the front door. The pain shot through her quickly. She could see stars. Never really a good sign. Her hand went up to her cheek where Ron had just slapped her across the face. Hermione had never pegged him to be an abuser. But then again, she'd never expected him to cheat either. Her tear-filled, brown eyes looked up into his frustrated blue ones. He didn't look sorry. Not that she expected him to.

"You couldn't win a fight against a man so you have to hit a woman? You're a coward Ronald Weasley." A month previously, he had gotten into a fight with one Marcus Flint in The Three Broomsticks, where Marcus' team, the Tutshill Tornados, were celebrating their 320 point win against the Chudley Canons. Flint, being the Captain, was the one Ron had decided to have a fight over it with. Unfortunately, or not so, Ron was beaten to a pulp by Flint, who, may she remind you was a Slytherin bully at Hogwarts and three years above them. It really didn't turn out in Ron's favour; in fact Marcus didn't even have a scratch on him.

After saying this, he slapped her again. She had only just cleared her eyesight from his last attack. How inconsiderate. Ron grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her into the wall, causing her to smack her head. He carried on talking, oblivious to this. Not that he ever cared anyway. "I was having an off day, okay? I could take on anyone I wanted." Well that was a lie. If Ron gained any muscles or got fitter from Quidditch, he would eat it away anyway. Ron had turned into a bit of a slob in the past few years. He always made Hermione do everything for him. Lazy shit. Ron had turned very controlling recently, not letting her do anything she wanted. He barely let her go to work. The rest of the time he demanded she stayed at home or at the burrow.

Hermione would fight back at him, except every time she would try, he threatened her immensely. He would tell her that he'd kick her out, hex her, start rumours about her, or lock her away for longer. By this point he had taken all the money that she had been given by the Ministry for her involvement in the defeat of Voldemort. She didn't even have any money from her parents, because she'd obliviated them. Being Harry Potter's best friend, she had been targeted straight away. Even though she tried to send them to Australia, she was too late.

This was the first time Ron had ever hit her and he'd done it twice in the space of a minute. Normally he held back from hitting her, but you could always see his urge to do so. Hermione had tried to leave but he'd always find her before she could get enough distance between them.

Hermione looked over at the blonde slut who was now making a beeline for the door. Probably for the best. Hopefully Hermione could take a leaf from her book and also leave soon. She turned back towards Ron.

"You couldn't 'take on' anyone Ron, and I'm not about to let you 'take' me." Hermione kneed him in the groin and ran to her bedroom where she grabbed the weekend bag by her bed. Hermione flung the wardrobe doors open and shoved as many clothes in the bag as quickly as possible. Just as she turned to leave, Ron stood in the doorway looking slightly red-faced after her previous attack.

"Where do you think you're going Hermione?"

"Anywhere but here!" She shouted back. She tried to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm before she could get any further.

"You have no family to go to, you're an orphan now. And your friends are my friends Hermione. I'll be able to find you."

"No Ron, this is it. We're over. We were over the second I caught you cheating. Actually you know what, it's been over for a long time now Ron, even you should have realised that. "

"I had to cheat Hermione, because you're never good enough. This is your fault. You always say you're too tired or something stupid. Bullshit. You're just frigid." He spat at her. Seriously, say it, don't spray it. "Good luck finding someone else. No one will ever want you, you filthy mudblood. Just wait; you'll come running back to me."

He grasped her weekend bag to stop her from moving. And she needed to get out of here. Hermione leaned towards him slightly. "You know what Ron? You're right. I can't live without you." She said softly. "Whatever was I thinking? Who cares if you cheated on me? I love you..." His hold on her bag weakened. Catching him off guard she shoved him away with all of her power. Stumbling, he let go of her and the bag. "Yeah, I love you like I loved Voldemort. I hate you Ron Weasley."

Hermione grabbed her handbag, quickly withdrawing her wand. She quickly pointed it at the red-head's crotch and fired a stinging jinx. It would be a miracle if he could have children after this. But she'd be even more surprised if anyone actually _wanted _to have children with him. And with that she apparated away, leaving a stunned (and slightly in pain) Ronald Weasley, who was already planning where to look for her first.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Helpless**

Ron was right. Hermione didn't have any family close enough to go to and he would find her straight away if she went to Harry's or Padma's. Hermione didn't have a home anymore, so she thought of the next best thing; Hogwarts.

As you're not allowed to apparate into Hogwarts grounds she ended up in the middle of Hogsmeade, right next to The Three Broomsticks. Hermione started walking in the opposite direction, knowing too well that someone she knew would undoubtedly be in there. Right now, she didn't want their pity. Hermione was too proud for that.

She found herself walking into a small alleyway next to the Hogs Head. She knew it wasn't really safe there but at that moment, Hermione couldn't care less. She slid down a building wall and brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tight to her body. Hermione's eyes filled up with tears and pretty soon they escaped and she began crying hysterically. She wasn't upset that Ron had cheated on her, but because of the pain in her cheek and because she knew of what he could do to her.

Hermione brought her hand up to her cheek where the pain was pulsing through her and she felt a sticky substance on the growing lump that had formed there. She realised that his ring had cut her face. He had bought the ring after the war just to spend some of his money and to show off how much he could spend. From the back of her head, she felt a warm, moist substance that had begun to trickle down the side of her face.

She took in more of her surroundings and noticed how it was getting dark. The chill of the February night caught up with her and she pulled her jacket closer around her. The alleyway had a damp smell to it and it was full of rubbish and crates that had once held bottles for the Hogs Head. Hermione was sat next to some boxes, hidden from anyone walking past but she still had enough room to see them.

Hermione was helpless. She didn't know what to do. She could go and stay at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley but Ron would eventually find her as someone would inevitably see her and go and tell him of her whereabouts. It had happened once before. Hermione liked to be in control of situations, but right now she was not.

She tried to stifle her cries as the door to the pub opened. Two men walked out then shook hands and walked separate ways, one coming in her direction. Unable to hold on to her tears and sniffling, the man looked in her direction having heard her. At first he didn't look like he was going to stop walking past the alleyway but then he halted. Hermione tried to be silent, holding her breath to try and stop the tears from escaping, just so he'd carry on walking. It was no use.

The tall man stepped into the alley tentatively and drew his wand, prepared for anything. As he stepped past the boxes he noticed the girl, sat there, crying and lowered his wand, but not putting it away entirely in case this was some sort of trap.

Hermione looked up through her messy brown curls at him to see if he was going to help her out or ignore her. Just as she was about to look down she caught sight of his bright blonde hair that she could distinguish anywhere.

"Malfoy?"

Hearing his name, he looked closer at the crying girl in front of him to see if he recognised her. He took in the curly brown hair, big brown eyes, clear skin disturbed with tears, and her curvy frame.

"Granger?" He realised. "What, what are you doing here?"

"Baking a cake. What do you think I'm doing?"

"Well, crying down a dingy alley, but that's not like the Granger I remember from school so I thought I'd ask."

"Well, what are _you_ doing? Shouldn't you have thrown something at me by now, laughed in my face and called me a mudblood?"

His strangely calm face clouded. "I haven't called anyone that in years. Don't go judgemental on me Granger; you don't know anything about me anymore."

"You were the one that brought back the memories of Hogwarts. Things change." She replied simply. Her crying had subsided slightly seeing Malfoy, as her guard had automatically gone up. She knew she shouldn't be worried about him doing something bad. Hermione had heard about how much good he had been doing for the Wizarding World in the past few years but old habits die hard.

"They do. But still, why are you sat here crying your eyes out?"

"Why would you care? You may have 'changed' Malfoy buy why would you care about me? We never got along." Hermione said bluntly. "Just go, I'm sure you've got more important things to be doing."

He ignored everything she said. "Where are Potty and Weasel? I thought they'd be around considering you're like the three musketeers." She raised an eyebrow at his knowledge of the muggle story. "And did you realize you're bleeding?" He said, eyeing her cheek.

"Yes I did, thank you very much."

"What happened to you? Why aren't you with the other two thirds of the mighty 'golden trio'?"

Hermione pulled a face at the 'golden trio', which Malfoy picked up on. "What, trouble in paradise?" He laughed. "Oh wait, weren't you with Weaselbee? Did you have an ickle argument? Did you realise that he actually has the intelligence of a carrot, not because of the ginger hair, although that could've been a factor, but because of his lack of brains?" Hermione brought her hand up to her mouth to try and prevent another round of tears. "What? I was just speaking the truth." She let out a small choked laugh at the extent of Ron.

She turned to Malfoy, who was now leaning against the opposite wall. "He cheated on me." Hermione didn't know why she told him, but she knew that she would have to tell people eventually. She might as well get it over and done with.

"Why do you care? You're too good for him anyway." Realising what he had just said, he continued. "Anyone is too good for him really. You're finally shot of him, right? Haven't you been with him since the war? Too long if you ask me. I couldn't stand five minutes with him."

"You don't know Ron, he'll come after me. He always does when I try to leave him."

Malfoy paused. "Hang on; did _he_ do that to you?" He pointed at her swollen, bloody cheek.

Hermione nodded slightly. If he looked a bit annoyed before, he looked like a child that had just been told Santa wasn't real now.

"He hit you? He hit- He hit a woman? I knew he was low but I didn't know he was _that_ low. Merlin, what an asshole. I know I'm not exactly King Nice but I would never hit a woman. What about Potter? Where's he? I can't imagine he beats his girlfriend, I'll give him that. Is he still with Weaslette?"

"No, she also cheated on him with Zacharias Smith." Probably wasn't the best time or place for a gossip but the conversation was calming, her heartbeat steadily going back to its usual pace.

"What, the Hufflepuff? I heard she hated him! And do Weasleys just think it's acceptable to cheat on other people?" His face showed signs of disgust. Wow, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy agreeing on something. What was the world coming to?

"Apparently so..."

He looked uncomfortable on what to say next. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. I can't go to Harry's because that's one of the first places he'd look, along with all my other friends." She started mumbling to herself. "Merlin only knows what he'll do next..."

"Shit." He said more to himself than to Hermione. "What about the Leaky Cauldron?"

"I considered it but someone would probably see me and tell him." She looked up at Malfoy. He looked like he was having a mental battle with himself.

He sighed. "Fine! You can stay at my house. But for one night only."

"Why?"

"Why? You know as well as I do that we don't bloody get along Grang-"

"No, I mean why are you being nice to me and, well, letting me stay with you?"

"Well I can't exactly leave you here to get raped can I? I'm not Weasel, I'm not that bad." He sneered at Ron's name.

"But I don't want to, you know, intrude." She said sheepishly.

"You and your bloody pride Granger. Whatever, you're coming with me." He got a hold of her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Just think though, Weasel would never look at my house for you." With a crack, they apparated away. When she landed on solid floor, Hermione looked up to find herself at none other than Malfoy's town house, in... Muggle London? Wait, what?


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **To 'The Butterfly Dreamer': don't worry; we'll see more of Crookshanks soon! And thanks for the review! I appreciate it!

* * *

**Chapter 3 – The Unexpected**

Malfoy's house was not how Hermione expected it to be. It was light and open, with neutral colours and modern decor. They had apparated into the hallway of the house, with a staircase to the right that had beautiful paintings following it up, some magical and some muggle. There were large windows, which in daylight, would light up the room vibrantly. The gorgeous hallway had a chandelier right above her head that was currently shining brilliantly. It looked more expensive than all the belongings in hers and Ron's flat, typical Malfoy.

"You, erm, do realize that you're in muggle London, don't you?"

"Yes Granger, I do. Muggles have done _some_ good things you know."

She blushed quickly at her judgemental comment. "Well, you have a lovely house."

"Thank you." He briefly looked at the floor, wondering what to say next. What on earth are you supposed to do in these situations? "Do you want a drink? You look like you could use one." She pulled a face. "No offence."

"None taken. But Yes, Please." Hermione followed him through to the kitchen. She looked around the large, magnificent kitchen in awe. She had never expected Malfoy's houd to look like this, especially his kitchen. It was pristine with white, wooden cupboards and marble work surfaces; it was like Hermione's perfect kitchen, except it had Malfoy in it. It was still too weird that she was in his house (almost) willingly and on friendly terms. He poured her a firewhiskey and handed it over to her.

"Thank You." She hesitated before taking a sip.

"It's not poisoned you know." He said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry, it's just that I never expected to be drinking firewhiskey with Draco Malfoy."

"Fair point." He responded, he then pointed towards one of the seats at the breakfast bar opposite him. "Please, take a seat."

Now that Hermione looked at Draco properly, she noticed that time had been in Draco's favour and his looks, even though good before, had improved greatly. He was still rather slender but he had great muscles, probably from the Quidditch he sometimes did with his friends. His sleek, white blonde hair was still pretty much the same as it had been during his final few years at Hogwarts. His once cold grey eyes now had a slight warm depth to them that any _other_ girl would melt into. His pale complexion set of his pointed features perfectly. Not that Hermione found him attractive of course. She didn't hit him in third year for nothing.

Hermione took the seat facing Malfoy and gulped down her firewhiskey whilst he watched with amusement. She looked down at her now empty glass and her eyes filled with tears. Malfoy's amused face dropped when he saw; he didn't know how to react around crying girls. They got angry at anything you said, cried harder when you didn't do things for them that they never even ask you to do then cried harder than that when you _did_ do things for them. He just didn't understand.

"Sorry, it's just-"

"You need to stop saying sorry." Malfoy interrupted.

"Sorry, I mean, wait, yeah okay. Anyway, I just- I'm not upset that it's over, I'm relieved more than anything, I hate him. But Malfoy... Malfoy, you just don't realize, _no one_ realizes, what Ron will do to me. He already took all of my money, everything I own and my friends. He never lets me leave our apartment except for work. The only other place I'm allowed is his parents. I didn't want to be a curse breaker at the ministry; it was the only job at the ministry that was slightly interesting to me because I'm only allowed to work there because he can get people to keep an eye on me. Whereas he's always off cheating with random girls, spending _my_ money and making me look like a fool."

Draco didn't know what to say to the tear-stricken girl in front of him. "Was this the first time he hit you?" He asked, almost dreading the answer.

"Yes, but he has wanted to before. You can tell, you know?" He nodded. "He would just get mad at anything I did."

"Why did you stay with him?"

"I wanted to leave, every single day. But he threatened to do so much to me. He would threaten to spread rumours about me, kick me out, some things even worse than that."

"What did you want to do, I mean, instead of working at the ministry? You're partners with Tracey Davis aren't you?"

Hermione had forgotten that Tracey was friends with Malfoy. "Tracey is a great friend of mine, one of the only good things about my work, and I know that she suspects something about my relationship with Ron. But curse breaking isn't really for me, it isn't fulfilling enough really." She looked up to meet Malfoy's eyes. "I want to work with children, magical children. I want to open a playgroup for them; children have nowhere to go before Hogwarts so it's a complete and utter shock for them when they start there. I want to help young witches and wizards prepare for Hogwarts, let them know what to expect there. They can also make new friends before they start so they can have friends in all houses because there wouldn't be the pressure of the four houses."

Malfoy watched Hermione as she got lost in her idea of the playgroup in amazement. She was passionate about it, yet the ginger bastard had stopped her from doing what she wanted. "I think it's a great idea, honestly. I remember when I was a child I knew I had this magic, yet I never knew how to control it. My parents could teach me only so much but I remember getting so frustrated because I felt like the only one." He laughed at his memory. "Which is why this is such a good idea, kids wouldn't feel like they were alone with controlling their magic."

"Exactly." Hermione smiled at him.

"You have to do it Granger, it wouldn't be right if you didn't."

"But with what money? He has taken all of mine."

"He took _all_ of your money?"

"Yeah, I didn't have a great amount of money after my parents were killed because I'd erased their memories of me so they didn't leave me any money. I got quite a large sum of galleons for my help in the defeat of Voldemort, but then Ron took it away from me saying 'what's mine is yours' but it only seems to work one way with him. He spent most of his money so he took mine to spend as well. The money I get working at the ministry pays the rent, so I don't have anything else."

"He can't just do that, it's your money. You rightfully got that money from the war, if it wasn't for you, Potter and Weasel wouldn't have been able to defeat Voldemort, it obviously required some brains and since Weasley doesn't have any, he'd be dead if it wasn't for you. And why do you have to pay the rent? If you're not married, you should pay half each. You both live there. Merlin, he frustrates me."

"Tell me about it. I've now got nowhere to live and I'm so incredibly exhausted." She sighed.

"Come on; let me show you to the guest room." Malfoy stood up straight and walked towards the hallway, gesturing for Hermione to follow.

"Malfoy, I really don't want to impose. You don't need to get involved in this. It's my problem, not yours. I've probably ruined a perfectly good Saturday night for you."

"Seriously Granger, it's fine. I don't mind. I hate Weasel anyway."

Hermione eventually reluctantly followed Malfoy up the stairs to one of many doors. She followed him into the guest room that had gold walls and thick, fluffy carpet. There was a huge, King size bed in the middle with thick quilts and plush cushions covering it. The room was warmly lit and there was a door leading off to an en suite and another to a huge closet.

Hermione put her bags down on the foot of the bed and turned to look at Malfoy as she absentmindedly toyed with the soft bed covers. "Thank you for doing this Malfoy."

"It's fine, Night Granger."

"Night Malfoy."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry it was a bit of a short chapter, we'll be seeing some of Lucius and Narcissa very shortly! Thanks to Hayley ('travellingendlessly') for helping me edit this! So if there were any grammar problems, blame her, she was supposed to point them out haha!

And please review, add it to your favourites, and follow! It means everything!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Meeting the Parents**

Hermione awoke to bright sunlight shining on her face. She opened her eyes and blinked several times to adjust to the bright light. The bed she was lying in was so comfy that she thought she was going to face great difficulty leaving it.

Then she remembered where she was. No, this was not good. Hermione Granger had openly cried in front of and spilled her relationship problems to Draco Malfoy. She was just waiting for him to walk into the room with a bunch of his friends just to laugh at her.

Deciding to leave before she humiliated herself further, Hermione got dressed, made the (most comfortable) bed and got her bags together before leaving Malfoy's guest room that obviously looked like a five star hotel suite.

Just as she was reaching the top of the staircase, Hermione stopped in her tracks because she heard voices coming from the hallway.

"What are you doing here?" She head Draco ask uneasily.

"Draco, it's Sunday. What has gotten into you? We come every Sunday for brunch; surely you should know this by now. We have been doing this for years, sweetheart." A woman responded exasperatedly.

"Yeah well I'm kind of preoccupied right now, mother."

"Why? Do you have someone here? Do you have a girl here? Draco, why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend? That's great sweetheart!"

"No, mother. I don't have a girlfriend, so you can stop thinking up your grandchildren's names."

"Draco, I wasn't even thinking that. Besides, I already have them planned out-"

A creak sounded from the stairs, where Hermione was currently stood having shifted her weight looking at the sight in front of her, her face turning red. Draco Malfoy was stood there awkwardly whilst none other than Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy stared at her with bewildered looks on their faces. If only the floor would swallow her up.

Draco swallowed nervously as Lucius slowly turned to look at him with one eyebrow lifted. His mother looked positively thrilled. At least one of them did. Hermione looked like she wanted to die.

"I'm sorry to, erm, interrupt." Hermione stammered, slowly descending the stairs. She made her way over to the front door. "I should go, erm, thanks for the help, er, Malfoy, really."

"Is that what they call it these days?" Lucius muttered under his breath.

"Please, Miss Granger is it?" Narcissa said, ignoring her husband. Hermione nodded. "Stay for brunch with us, I insist. Really Draco, you're not very good at hosting are you? When you let people stay at your house, that normally entitles breakfast. Come on dear, let's go and get some breakfast." Narcissa took Hermione's bags off her and hung them up on the coat stand. She then linked her arm in Hermione's and led her to Draco's dining room leaving a rather baffled father and son looking uncertain.

"Well that was unexpected." Lucius said dryly to his son before following the two women into the dining room. Draco didn't know whether to go with them for Granger's safety or to run until he was where no one would ever find him for his own safety. After a small mental battle with himself, Draco decided to join them in the dining room. This should be interesting.

You could say that Draco never expected to see his parents having brunch with the muggleborn Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best friend. To say that his father needed a firewhiskey was an understatement. He probably would have if his mother wasn't there. Narcissa seemed to have a lot of control over Lucius. What Narcissa says, goes.

Draco sat down opposite Hermione since his mother had taken it upon herself to sit next to the poor girl. She was currently asking her what she did for a living.

"I currently work as a curse breaker for the ministry." Hermione smiled at the elder woman. She had not expected someone from the Malfoy family to be so friendly and welcoming.

"A smart girl. I like it." She nodded knowingly towards Draco. Subtlety was not one of her strong points. "Unlike any other girl that I've read about him being with, he never tells me anything these days. I wish you would Draco, Blaise tells his mother things-"

"Mother, seriously."

"Anyway, do you enjoy working as a curse breaker Miss Granger?" Narcissa asked.

"Please, call me Hermione." Narcissa smiled warmly. "I enjoy working as a curse breaker, but, truthfully, I want to open a playgroup for magical children." Lucius looked up from his French toast at this, getting more interested. Hermione proceeded to tell Draco's mother about her dream of opening the school like she had told him the previous evening. Narcissa was so engrossed that she had forgotten to eat the rest of her fruit salad.

When Hermione had finished telling Narcissa her plans of the school she had offered to help the other witch clear up in the kitchen, since Draco's house elf, Tula, was off doing some other jobs. Hermione rolled up her sleeves just before putting dishes into the sink. She realized her mistake too late. Narcissa had already caught sight of the bruises that had formed on her arms that Ron had caused by grabbing a hold of her.

Narcissa caught Hermione's hands in her own. "My dear, what on earth happened? Who did this to you? Please don't tell me that this was an accident because I know for a fact that that is a handprint." How would Hermione get out of this one? She didn't want their pity, but she didn't want to lie either.

"Ronald Weasley." Hermione admitted. She looked up to see Lucius and Draco walk into the kitchen, who had also noticed the marks.

"Weasley?" Lucius asked, not masking his distaste. "What so they're hitting girls now? And I thought they could sink no lower..."

"But Hermione, how could this happen? I'm sorry dear, I don't mean to pry-"

"He cheated on me, made out like it was my fault, hit me, I hexed him." Lucius and Draco shared a smile at the hex comment, typical. "I ran away and now, I'm here."

"But it wasn't your fault at all, how come you didn't leave sooner? He sounds dreadful."

"He's taken everything from me. I have no money left. Nothing." After an awfully long bitching session about the Weasley's, Hermione found herself feeling surprisingly better about herself. Who'd have thought it? Hermione could hardly digest it.

When Hermione realized that she'd been hanging out with the Malfoy family for about four hours, Hermione thought that she should probably leave. She'd already disturbed their morning enough. After reassuring Narcissa that she would be okay going to Luna's and Harry's and that she'd contact them if any problems came up, Hermione finally left. Not without thanking Draco for his help multiple times on her departure.

After walking Hermione to the front door and seeing her out, Draco walked back into the living room where his parents were waiting expectantly for him. Before the end of the Second Wizarding War, the Malfoy's had turned to the 'light' side, meaning their previous wrong-doings had been dismissed. It had turned out that they'd only been a part of it because of the protection of their family. Yet some people still held grudges against them.

His mother was waiting for him with a smug smile on her face. "Yes?" He asked, knowing perfectly well what was coming.

"She's a lovely girl, that Hermione. Very pretty; very intelligent." She said with a glint in her eyes.

"Mother, how many times do I have to tell you? I am not dating Hermione Granger." He replied, getting annoyed. His father had been rather quiet that morning, save for a few sarcastic comments here and there.

"Why ever not?"

"We hate each other; I only bumped into her yesterday. Whatever, I'm not with her, never have been, never will be. Anyway, father looks like he is bursting to say something, so please, do share what is making you look so uncomfortable." Draco said, turning to his father, moving on swiftly.

His mother and father briefly share and unnerving look. Lucius began. "Well... Draco, people are talking. This family doesn't have a good reputation, as you know. Me and your mother, we've done everything that we could. We've donated money to charities, we've given any information that we had on Voldemort, and we gave over names of Death Eaters. People still aren't exactly happy. You need to do something Draco. You're the younger generation, the same age as Potter. People are more likely to pay attention to you."

"Who cares what people think?" Draco asked, sitting down next to his mother.

"Draco..." His mother started.

"Someone even made a comment to your mother in Diagon Alley on Wednesday."

"What did they say?" Draco questioned.

"Something along the lines of being a Death Eater and blaming her for the death of someone they knew." Lucius responded. Narcissa looked down, with her hands in her lap, embarrassed.

"It was six years ago!" Draco shouted, his anger increasing. It shouldn't be taken out on his mother, she had been protecting _him_. He sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"We didn't know what else to suggest, there really is nothing else..." Lucius said.

"What is it?"

"We want you to marry a muggleborn." Lucius replied flatly.

"Are you kidding me? You can't be serious." He laughed pathetically. "Unlike some people, I actually want to love the person I marry. I mean, I know you two like each other but that's different. You two knew each other well before you were married."

"Me? Love him? Really Draco, I thought you were clever."

"Son, that is ridiculous. We don't like each other, what's her name again?"

Draco looked pointedly at them. "Now is not the time to make jokes, especially when you drop a bomb like that." His parents collected themselves after their strange, brief episode and Draco carried on. "Besides, I don't know any muggleborns. Except for Granger, of course..."

"So you _do_ know one..."

"Not the point mother! Anyway, like I said before, me and Granger hate each other. She would never marry me. I was horrible to her. The things I used to call her, for no reason. No, she would never marry me."

"But you'd marry her?" Narcissa said, leaning forward.

"Mother, really? Will you stop already?"

"You never answered the question." Lucius added.

"Oh so you're joining in now? And didn't you hear me? Merlin, how many times? We hate each other. Always have, always will."

"Things change." Narcissa said.

"Not that much."

"I'm sorry, but was it just me or did you allow Hermione Granger to stay at your house last night? Things _certainly_ change." Lucius said.

"Good point Lucius!" Narcissa exclaimed, tapping his arm excitedly, scaring him slightly. She was enjoying this too much. It was like they'd strategized beforehand.

"Just no, end of discussion." Draco stopped them.

But they carried on anyway...

"Look what Weasley is doing to her son; you could protect her from that. She'll want someone to look after her."

"Plus, you could help her with funding the school that she wants to open." Narcissa commented.

"You could introduce her to your other friends, because judging by hers; they're a bit of a handful." Lucius added.

"Yes and Pansy is a lovely girl, I'm sure they'd get along. _She's_ no Astoria."

"I'm not doing this..." Draco said unsurely.

There was a pause, and then Lucius turned to his wife. "I feel we got to him, no?"

**A/N:** I hope you like Narcissa and Lucius; we'll be seeing more of them in the coming chapters.

PLEASE REVIEW.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Back Again**

When Hermione had got to the Potter's house she'd been given a slight pitying look from Luna when she opened the door. She'd obviously heard.

According to Luna, Ron had been round late last night looking for Hermione after she had run away from him. He had explained to them that she hadn't been 'willing' and that there was only 'so much a guy could take'. Harry had kicked him out after realizing that Ron had cheated on his best friend... multiple times.

Harry wasn't there when Hermione got there, because he had Auror duty, even on a Sunday, much to Luna's disappointment. Hermione stayed with Luna for the rest of the day and Luna was surprised at how calm she was at the situation. But Hermione wasn't going to tell her that it was because she had spent the morning with the Malfoy family and they'd been the ones to cheer her up.

Luna had asked Hermione to stay with them until she gets back on her feet but realistically, she didn't really want to. Hermione loved Harry and Luna but Luna was seven and a half months pregnant, they'd been married for a year and Hermione didn't want to intrude on their married life. Even more so was the fact that Hermione was single, lonely and didn't really have anyone to rely on right now. Their life was so perfect in comparison to hers, that it made her feel a little bit sick.

Hermione had also been asked the dreaded question of where she had stayed last night and she didn't particularly want to go into those details. So she decided to keep it vague and said "a friend's house." Luna asked no more questions.

Her afternoon with Luna was going well until someone Hermione was avoiding seeing showed up.

The doorbell rang and Luna got up to get it, having no idea who was at the door. Then Hermione heard the voice of The Devil Ginny Weasley.

Hermione wished at that moment in time that Harry wasn't so safety precautious and that there were no anti-apparation wards around the house. Because Hermione currently wanted to apparate the hell out of this place.

She could hear Luna trying to talk Ginny out of coming into the house but Ginny wouldn't take no for an answer. "She's here isn't she? I knew it." Hermione heard Ginny push Luna aside and storm into the house. Luna is a pregnant woman for crying out loud! You just don't push her!

Ginny barged into the living room where Hermione had just stood up, awaiting the confrontation. "I knew you'd be here! You can't last five minutes without any of us. I bet you're here looking for sympathy. Well you know what? You don't deserve any. It's your fault that he cheated on you!"

"How on earth is it my fault that _he_ cheated on _me_?"

"Because you're a frigid mudblood, he told me so himself." Well that's a bit weird.

"Did he also tell you that he hit me? You know, that's against the law." Hermione removed the glamour charm she had put on her face that hid the cut from Ron and his ring. She heard Luna gasp from the other side of the room. "Did I deserve that?"

"You deserve everything he did to you Hermione."

Just then the front door opened and Hermione wasn't planning on sticking around. Harry walked into the living room where the heated argument was currently taking place. This was Hermione's cue to leave, because Ginny's accusations would be interrupted by Harry.

"Hi Harry, I'm sorry but I have to go. I don't really want to stay where I'm not wanted." Hermione grabbed her bags. "Thank you Luna for today, it was good until _that_ showed up." She said looking in Ginny's direction. She rushed past Harry and out the front door, leaving a rather angry Harry Potter ready to kick one Ginny Weasley out of his house like he had done with her brother the day before. He'd had it with these Weasley's recently.

Hermione ended up in muggle London after walking around for some time. She had avoided the wizarding community because she didn't want to see any familiar faces right then. She walked down street after street until she came to a road that she recognized. She was stood right outside Malfoy's house.

She didn't know whether to knock on the door in the pathetic helpless state that she was in or run and leave before she embarrassed herself further. She decided on the latter. But luck obviously wasn't in her favour. Just as she turned to leave, the front door opened and Draco stepped out of the house. She would have tried to run away or apparate but that would've been too obvious and couldn't easily style it out. She considered hiding behind a nearby car but that would've been unbelievably ridiculous. In her decision making Hermione had hesitated and Malfoy looked up and saw her standing there looking rather distressed.

"Granger?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, erm, sorry, I didn't have anywhere else to go." Draco continued to walk towards her. "I'll go; I don't even know why I came here." She began mumbling to herself.

"It's fine Granger, you can stay another night." He sighed.

"No, I can go to the Leaky Cauldron, it's fine. I really don't want to intrude on whatever it is you're doing. Thank you for helping me last night Malfoy." She turned to leave, but Malfoy began talking again.

"Pizza or Chinese? I was thinking Chinese and that's where I was headed originally but since you're my guest I suppose I better ask you, especially since I got told off by my mother earlier for not being a better host." He began walking and she just stared in bewilderment. "Well? Are you coming?"

She hesitantly followed him to the muggle Chinese takeaway restaurant and realized that she was also starving. They ordered their food and after much persistence, Malfoy paid for it, much to Hermione's displeasure. She had offered to pay more than once, but Malfoy had downright refused.

"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked him once they'd arrived back at his house and were sat at his kitchen table, eating their food.

"Well, normally I eat when I'm starving, so I thought I would this time as well. It usually works."

Hermione smiled despite herself. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I guess I couldn't leave you in the alleyway in Hogsmeade, it's obviously not safe. Also, there is probably nothing more that I hate than Weaselbee. And since you hate him as well I thought 'Hey! We've got something in common, why not?' But then, I also owe you, like big time." Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I was horrid to you in Hogwarts. I guess this is my weird way of saying sorry I suppose. I'm trying to show that I've changed, hell, all the Slytherin's are. We're trying to show that we did the things that we did because of our families, which is true. He- Voldemort threatened to kill my family if I didn't kill Dumbledore, then Snape ended up doing it and only after did I find out about his agreement with Dumbledore. Voldemort put my mother under the cruciatus curse and forced me and my father to watch, and then he did the same to us. That's why my family is so close now, in fear of that happening again. We weren't right for a long time with Voldemort around. Although my mother can smother me from time to time." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Your mother is lovely, I'm going to be completely honest with you, I wasn't expecting any of you to be that nice to me, being friends with Harry Potter."

"My mother lied to Voldemort for him, for me. But still, in Hogwarts, I said those things, called you that word..."

"Ginny called me a mudblood today." She said bluntly.

"What? I know this is kind of hypocritical of me but she can't call you that. You've done nothing wrong. I'm sorry for calling you that word, I really am, but she's supposed to be your friend. If there's one thing that Slytherin's are good for, that's being loyal to your friends. I swear to Salazar I just want to rip them to shreds." Hermione laughed at Draco's outburst. "You say she called it you today? I thought you were at Potter's? And if I remember correctly he was married to Lovegood."

"Well I was at Luna's and Harry's, but he wasn't there so it was just me and Luna. It was all going fine and then Ginny showed up. Luna tried to send her away but Ginny pushed her out the way and walked right in. And Luna's pregnant!"

"I'm sorry but you just don't push a pregnant woman."

"That's exactly what I thought! Anyway, she came in, started shouting at me, blaming me, called me a mudblood and just as Harry got home, I left and here I am."

Draco paused. "Hermione you have to get your stuff back, you can't be living in fear of _Ron Weasley_." He sneered at the name. "You can stay here until you sort everything out but you need to go and get your stuff back before he steals it."

"What do you want me to do? Walk in there to get my stuff back only to have him hit me again? I'm sorry but that's not the first thing on my Bucket List. The only thing I want back, apart from my dignity, is Crookshanks."

"Of course he's not going to hit you again if I'm- Wait, what's a Bucket List?"

"It's a muggle thing. It's a list of things to do before you die. Anyway that's not the point; he will do something if I go there."

"Well I'll come with you, hell I'll get loads of people to go." Draco got a few pieces of parchment out of a draw and began scribbling rushed messages on them.

"What are you doing Malfoy?"

"I'm getting back up. You, are getting your stuff back and trust me, he won't do anything with these guys there."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay, I'm not too sure when the next chapter will be up, hopefully it will be soon! Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Here's a really long chapter, I hope you like it!

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Don't Be So Dramatic**

"I'm sorry, but say that again." Hermione said exasperatedly.

"I said everyone else is coming in a minute." Draco responded, looking bored.

"No, after that, who specifically is coming?" It was like pulling teeth.

"Blaise, Theo, Goyle and Flint. Although Pansy will probably come as well seeing as Blaise is." Draco annoyingly continued to drink his coffee as if nothing was amiss. How was he so calm right now?

"Malfoy if you didn't realize this small fact already, all of your lot hate me." Hermione was starting to panic. How could Malfoy be so stupid?

"Yes but _my lot_ hate Weasley even more, especially Flint." Draco said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah I heard about that. Remind me to thank Marcus later." Draco chuckled. "But do they know the reason they're coming here? Do they know I'm here?"

"Merlin, it's like twenty questions with you isn't it? And no to both questions, you have eighteen left."

"Malfoy, I'm not actually playing twenty questions and aren't they going to like, hex me when they see me standing in your kitchen?"

"Will you calm down? Anyone would think that someone had set fire to your copy of Hogwarts: A History." Hermione scoffed at his joke. "They probably won't do anything, just wonder why you're here and ask me a few questions."

"They're going to kill me." Hermione muttered as the doorbell rang. Malfoy had set up apparition wards like Harry.

"Don't be so dramatic."

Hermione huffed and waited for Draco to come back into the kitchen with the Slytherin gang. Draco walked through the door first followed by Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Pansy was the first to notice the now very pale muggleborn witch stood on one side of the kitchen.

"Erm, Draco." Pansy whispered. "Why is Granger here?"

"Harry Potter's best friend? Fair play to you, mate!" Blaise clapped Draco on the back.

"It's not what you think." Draco said. "We need your help. Trust me; I think you might even enjoy it. I know Flint will."

"What does this have something to do with Weasel? Please tell me it does. No disrespect Granger." Blaise said getting rather excited. Hermione shrugged at the comment, she didn't care about Ron anymore. Draco looked at her for permission to fill the couple in on what Ron did, which was quite decent of him. She thought she might as well tell them if they're going to help her out.

After Draco had finished relaying the story, as Hermione was getting sick of telling it, the doorbell rang once again announcing the arrival of the other Slytherins. As Draco went to open the door, Pansy went over to her. "I'm really sorry for what he did to you. If Blaise did that to me I'd probably torture him so much that I wouldn't have to kill him because he'd kill himself." Hermione wasn't sure if she was supposed to find that comforting. Blaise swallowed nervously. You could tell who wore the pants in that relationship. "Don't worry, we'll make him sorry."

"Thanks." Hermione smiled at the other witch. It seemed that the Slytherin's had changed a fair bit over recent years and Pansy didn't resemble a pug in the slightest. Her short brown hair had grown into long, thick brown locks that complimented her well.

Blaise was also very good looking meaning him and Pansy looked like a power couple. He was the chaser on the Slytherin team and it looked like those muscles never left him. Blaise was a tall man with dark skin, high cheekbones and eyes that were slightly slanted. Hermione had also heard that he was rather vain.

Just then Theodore Nott, Marcus Flint and Gregory Goyle walked through the door followed by Malfoy. Goyle had changed so much after the death of his best friend, Crabbe, she only just recognized him. He had lost all of his weight and was left with just muscle, which still made him just as menacing as before.

Theodore was the first to speak. "Hey Pansy, Hey Blaise, Hey Granger." He said calmly. He carried on walking towards the fridge, after a minute looking through it he slowly turned around with a curious expression on his face. Everyone watched him expectantly wondering when he will notice the odd addition to their group. "Draco, why don't you have any orange juice?" What?

"What do you mean why don't I have any orange juice? I never have orange juice." He replied in bewilderment.

"You always have orange juice." Theo commented.

"Okay, so I forgot to get some orange juice, if you want some orange juice so badly why don't you get your own?"

"Because I knew I was coming here and you always have orange juice."

"Well obviously I don't-"

"Will you two shut up? How about we talk about why we're here and not about _fucking orange juice._" Marcus interrupted. "And more importantly, why is Granger here? No offence." He added, looking at Hermione.

"We were about to get to that when Theo decided to go ahead and make himself at home." Draco turned to everyone else, who, to Hermione's surprise hadn't hexed her yet. "We are going to go and get Hermione's stuff back from the Weasel's because long story short, he cheated, hit her and took everything she owned." Hermione should have just told everyone that length of the story, it would have saved her a lot of time.

Marcus looked like Christmas had come early. "Do I get to beat him up again?" He must have a really good dentist or just grew into his teeth well because they no longer looked absolutely God awful. Puberty had done this group many favours.

"Only if completely necessary." Draco replied.

"Maybe you should, it will hurt his ego even more. One of the reasons he hit me was because I'd laughed at him when you'd beaten him up." Hermione spoke up. All of the Slytherins turned to look at her wearing their trademark smirks. "What?"

"I think I'm going to like this girl." Blaise commented simply whilst the others nodded in agreement. Finally the six Slytherins and Gryffindors golden girl apparated to right outside Hermiones apartment building. She lived in Wizarding London because Ron hadn't allowed her to live anywhere else.

Hermione turned to the others. "We never came up with a plan."

Malfoy took charge. "Granger, you go and knock on the door, he will answer and probably throw a hissy fit, and then I'll appear shortly followed by this lot. We'll barge into the flat, get your stuff, say something really quite brilliant to him, maybe Flint could re-introduce him to his fist then we will leave and return to my house with the stuff. And remember, find Granger's Gringotts key. He's taken all of her money and we're going to get it back."

"Alright, bossy." Hermione commented at Malfoy's expense. Old habits.

"I'm growing to like her even more." Pansy said, earning herself a glare from Malfoy.

"But what if you can't find my key? Then he'll have all of my money." Hermione added.

"You forget that we're Slytherins, we'll find it." Theo said.

"Instead of standing here talking all day, shall we get on with it?" Blaise interrupted, getting increasingly impatient.

They started to follow Hermione up the stairs when she stopped, suddenly. "Oh no! I forgot to tell Tracey I wouldn't be in work today."

"She'll get over it, now stop putting this off and carry on." Marcus said, he was too busy readying himself for a fight with the ginger prick.

They reached the floor of the apartment and she walked to the door, while the others hid behind a nearby wall.

Hermione took a deep breath and knocked on the door, realizing how stupid it was that she had to knock to get into her own apartment. Just as she was about to give up hope, a very smug looking Ron Weasley opened the door.

"I just knew it! I knew you'd come crawling back to me Hermione." He said, smiling too sickly sweet.

"I'm not coming back for you Ronald; I'm here to collect my things." Hermione said with little emotion.

"What things? 'What's mine is yours' remember?"

"That only works when you're not cheating on someone." Hermione responded, irritated.

She could see the anger flickering in his eyes. He raised his hand, ready to hit her. When they've hit once (or twice, as the case may be), they always hit again. Stopping Ron in his tracks, a new voice joined in. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, which fortunately, I am not."

Ron looked up to see Malfoy stood there with his hands in his pockets. "Malfoy." Ron growled. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I've come to get Hermione's stuff back." He said, walking over to her side whilst Ron slowly brought his hand down.

"This is none of your business Malfoy." Ron spat.

"Oh but see, that's where you're wrong. It became my business when I found Hermione beaten up down an alleyway." Hermione heard someone gasp from around the corner, most likely Pansy, but Ron failed to notice her because all he could probably hear was himself breathing, as right now, it was like a dragon. So bloody loud.

Ron didn't know what to say in response to Malfoy so he turned back to Hermione. Like always. "You became friends with Malfoy? You filthy mud-"

"Hey Weasley, remember me?" Hermione looked up just in time to see Marcus punch Ron right in the face. Nice.

Following Marcus, the rest of the Slytherin's and Hermione stepped over Ron and into the apartment as he was currently sat in the doorway crying out in pain. Serves him right.

As Pansy gathered her clothes, Theodore looked for her Gringott's key, Marcus trashed Ron's things, Blaise and Goyle tied Ron to a kitchen chair and Malfoy filled a box with anything that Hermione said was hers, Ron yelled at her after the pain in his face eventually started to subside.

"Since when were you friends with the snakes? I won't allow this to happen Hermione. Stop this right now!" Hermione ignored Ron and began picking up all of Crookshanks' cat things. "Don't ignore me you bitch!

"Do not. Call her. That word. In front of me. Ever. Again. Weasley." Malfoy stepped in. "And she doesn't have to listen to the likes of you, you filth. Especially after what you did to her."

"What are _you_ gonna do Malfoy?"

"Do you really want me to go into this right now?" Nodding his head, he continued. "Okay fine. I will destroy you. Everyone you've ever loved will hate you after I'm done. Your war hero reputation will be trodden into the ground. You thought defeating Voldemort was hard? That will be a walk in the park compared to what I'll do with you. Understood?"

Ron paled slightly at the menacing words, that were dripped in venom.

After Theo had screamed, "I've found the Gringotts key!" the Slytherins started to file out of the apartment with her things to the apparation point, Blaise carrying Crookshanks hesitantly, thinking that the ginger ball was going to attack him at any given moment.

Only Hermione, Malfoy and Ron were left in the flat. "You're going to regret this Hermione." Ron said, red as a tomato.

"You know what Ron? No I'm not. I'm glad to be getting shot of you. You're probably the worst thing that ever happened to me." Malfoy looked like he was enjoying this way too much. "I'm so happy you cheated on me because it means you're finally out of my life."

"You say that now Hermione..."

"I will always think that."

"Why the Slytherins though? Why Malfoy?"

"Let me just put it this way..." Hermione began. "If I wasn't with you and I was with someone else and they'd hit me, you wouldn't be a true friend and help me. They did. They helped me in a heartbeat. You're a horrible person, Ron Weasley, these guys aren't." She turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. "And I'm so, so glad that Marcus beat you up."

After one last punch in the jaw from Malfoy, the pair left Ron tied to his own kitchen chair.

"I'm completely exhausted." Hermione said, collapsing onto the sofa.

"I'm just getting started, I could go and beat Weasel up a few more times." Marcus said, who was currently sat next to Theo and Goyle on one of Malfoy's sofas in his living room. Everyone had taken Hermione's stuff back to Malfoys after going to her apartment. Now they were all just sat there, contemplating what had just happened.

"Well you're just aggressive." Pansy stated, dropping her head onto Blaise's shoulder.

"You say it like it's a bad thing." Marcus replied.

Hermione brought he knees up to her chest. "I'm just glad to have all my stuff back." Looking around at all of the people surrounding her. "Thank you guys for doing this for me, considering you barely know me and all."

"Here comes the sentimental Gryffindor speech." Theo commented.

"Excuse me while I vomit." Marcus said, in a bored tone.

Hermione rolled her eyes light-heartedly and said "No, that's Harry's job", causing the group to laugh.

"Sounds about right." Draco responded, who was sat next to Hermione.

"Anyway, I think we better be off because Pansy is about to fall asleep on my shoulder." Blaise stood, helping Pansy to her feet. Everyone else followed their actions, looking like they were also about to fall asleep at any second. It had been a long day.

"Well, we'll see you tomorrow night." Pansy said, hugging Draco goodbye. "Actually I'll see you in the morning because I'm meeting your mother here."

"You're meeting my mother here? Why?"

"Because Ciss and I are going shopping, Draco we do it quite often."

"Well I've never noticed."

"Well now you have." Pansy said, moving from Draco to Hermione, surprisingly pulling her into a hug. "You did the right thing by leaving him Hermione, he's an idiot." She pulled away and dragged Blaise to the door. "See you tomorrow!" She called as she walked through the door.

After everyone else said their goodbyes, Hermione followed Malfoy back into the living room, flopping back onto the sofa. "What are you doing tomorrow night with them?" Hermione asked.

"We're" Malfoy emphasised. "going out to celebrate you getting shot of Weaslebee."

"When was this decided?"

"When you went to the bathroom." He replied casually.

"Where are we going?"

"Just some random restaurant in Diagon Alley that Pansy wanted to go to." And knowing this lot, it will be the posh part of Diagon Alley. Great. Now Hermione needed to find something wearable in all of her clothing.

* * *

**A/N: **PLEASE REVIEW! (And add it to your favourite stories / follow it!) Plus, Hermione's 'new look' is coming soon!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Here's a really long chapter to quench you Dramione thirst!

I read something the other day that said the Dramione / Harry Potter fandom is dying, let's not let it die!

* * *

**Chapter 7 - Perfect**

"Hermione, you cannot wear _that_ to dinner tonight."

Hermione turned around to see Pansy stood in the doorway of her bedroom where she was currently looking through her wardrobe for things to wear and the only outfit suitable to have dinner with the Slytherins was a blue dress that even Hermione could admit was extremely dull.

"But I have nothing else to wear." She complained. It sucked having been deprived of a social life where she could have bought herself new clothes.

"Well lucky for you, Narcissa and I were planning on taking a trip to Diagon Alley today and you are coming with us." Pansy told her, coming to stand next to her, looking at her pathetic wardrobe.

"Yeah but with what money? I have hardly any, you know as well as I do that I'm saving for the school." Hermione sighed.

"Well I have money, along with Draco, he'd be more than happy to give you money. He has plenty of it."

"I can't just take his money to spend on clothes! I'm not Lavender Brown!"

"Well obviously you're not because Draco would never let Lavender Brown stay with him. Now I'm going to go and find Narcissa so she can help me on what needs to be removed from your god-awful wardrobe." Pansy said sternly, turning towards the door. "So pretty much everything."

"Yeah thanks for that Pansy." Hermione called after the girl as she walked out of the room to find Mrs Malfoy. She heard a chuckle as she turned back to her clothes. Pansy had a point, they were shockingly bad.

Less than five minutes later, Hermione was in the company of Pansy and Mrs Malfoy who were criticizing her fashion sense tremendously.

"Hermione dear, you've got such a gorgeous figure so why don't you show it off a bit?" Narcissa asked. "Okay we need to go to Diagon Alley; we have a _lot_ of work to do."

After Narcissa demanded that Draco give some money to fund their shopping trip, or as Pansy liked to call it, 'The Hermione Granger project fund', which he only allowed after knowing it was for Hermione, they apparated to Diagon Alley.

"Where shall we go first?" Pansy asked excitedly.

"Let's go to that new store 'Zeldas' by Flourish and Blotts, I've heard it's quite the treat." Narcissa said.

Hermione had also read about 'Zeldas' in Witch Weekly, it was 'quite the treat', the expensive kind. She reluctantly followed the two witches to the boutique and she glanced longingly at Flourish and Blotts, wishing it was there that she could inevitably spend hours in. With no such luck she went into the clothing store.

Hermione had never been in any shop like it. She just went to basic clothing stores and was done with it. But this was a whole new experience. The big store, painted cream with one wall covered in vintage wallpaper, had plush sofas, dashing chandeliers and beautiful mirrors dotted around. As for the clothing, there were gorgeous dresses, from formal to casual, blouses that looked like models would wear them, skirts to die for. The shoes lining the back wall was another story completely.

Snapping out of her daze from the magnificent store, a saleswoman walked over to the trio. "Hello and welcome to Zeldas, is there anything I can help you with today?"

Hermione normally declined help in clothing stores but the other two obviously seemed to think that she needed all the help she could get. "Yes, Hermione here is going out tonight and needs a new outfit. She also needs an entire new wardrobe along with it." Narcissa was always straight to the point.

"Okay, I will be sure to help. My name is Olivia and if you need anything let me know." The brunette woman said. "So the outfit for tonight, let's start with how formal is the venue?"

"Probably very formal, knowing Malfoy." Hermione commented.

Ignoring Hermione, Narcissa spoke up. "I believe they're going to The Bluebell round the corner, so smart casual I would say."

"Well we have some dresses over here that might be suitable." Olivia led them over to some cocktail dresses. Apparently their idea of smart casual was not quite the same as Hermione's.

The other three women started piling dresses into their arms until she almost couldn't see over them. She had no chance of looking for clothes herself whatsoever. Hermione managed to catch sight of one of the price tags and there was no way she could ever afford any of these clothes. But looking at the other witches, who were totally in their element, she decided she might as well try a few of the clothes on for their sake. They _were_ beautiful dresses.

Hermione was ushered into one of the spacious changing rooms at the back of the shop, whilst Narcissa and Pansy took a seat on one of the white, puffy couches just outside. She picked up a plum coloured dress first, which had diamante pretty much everywhere. Not particularly Hermione's cup of tea.

She walked out to the 'fashion critics' for their verdict.

"No!" Pansy bluntly said.

"Not classy enough." Narcissa added.

So she went back to try on a brown own, followed by a red one, then thirteen other dresses. Out of those, five were a possibility and up to Pansy and Narcissa's standards.

"Let's keep those dresses to one side and try daytime wear now." Pansy suggested.

Daytime wear? Judging by this shop that was going to be a ball gown. Although this time, Hermione was allowed to choose some of her own things to try on. With about thirty pieces of clothing crammed into the changing room, she changed again. She was going to need to lie down after this.

After choosing fourteen outfits that were "socially acceptable" (Pansy's words, not hers), Hermione moved onto shoes. She had one pair for tonight, three other pairs of 'going out' shoes, two pairs of boots and two pairs for 'everyday' wear. Apparently the boots were for casual wear and yet, they were still about four inches high. How many pairs of shoes did one person need?

"That will do for now I suppose. We can come back and get some more next week." Narcissa contemplated. Obviously that amount of shoes isn't enough. _Obviously_.

The more important question burning on Hermione's brain though: "How am I going to pay for this?"

"Oh don't worry about it dear, my treat." Narcissa brushed the question away. Treat? _Treat_? Hermione dreaded to think what she got for someone who was actually family and had known for longer than a week. _She_ was just a pain in the butt for Narcissa's family.

"Narcissa, I couldn't possibly, it's way too much-"

"Nonsense! You, along with every other girl, deserve nice clothes. Well, apart from that girl Mr Weasley was with, but let's not get into that."

Fair point she made there. And Narcissa Malfoy was not someone you can say no to.

Once she had paid for Hermione's things generously, Narcissa led her and Pansy out of the shop, thanking Olivia for her help. They walked down the cobbled street of Diagon Alley laden with shopping bags (the other two had at least gotten something for themselves) and turned down another street that Hermione didn't recognise. Looking around, she understood why the other two witches she was with knew about it.

This was not like the rest of Diagon Alley. The buildings were taller, they were newer, and they were more expensive. Because of Ron taking all of her money after the war, and despite the fact that she now had her Gringotts key, she still didn't have much money and she did not feel like she was in her comfort zone here, unlike the other two.

She was led into a large salon with frosted windows at the front. It was a white building with colourful flowers outside and a sign that read 'Formositas'. As soon they walked inside, there were big white sofas with big colourful cushions that looked way too pretty to sit on in case you ruined it. There was a big marble welcome desk with a glamorous looking receptionist sat behind it. Behind the desk was a waterfall separating the waiting area from the rest of the salon. Hermione couldn't afford to pee in a place like this, let alone have a treatment.

Narcissa walked up to the receptionist. "Hello Louise." She looked up to Narcissa and smiled warmly at the elder witch. "How are you?" After making small talk, Narcissa got down to the point. "Hermione here is in need of your help, she's going out tonight with Draco and his friends and she's getting a makeover." Louise looked surprised to see Hermione Granger standing in the salon. "Is Paolo here?"

"Yes he's here; he should just be finishing with a client. You can go on back." Louise said.

"Thank you Louise." Narcissa said, once again leading Pansy and Narcissa through to the back, past the waterfall. Hermione thought the front of the salon was impressive, but the main part was magnificent. There was white marble everywhere and the whole place was pristine. There were individual booths complete with hair brushes, products and irons. There was a row of sinks with shampoos behind. There were big mirrors in front of every comfortable looking chair that lit up. There were more booths for makeup and manicures and pedicures. At the back of the big salon were rooms that led off to tanning and waxing parlours. She wouldn't be surprised if there were Jacuzzis and swimming pools as well.

"Paolo!" Narcissa exclaimed brightly when she saw a tall (dyed) blonde man, talking to one of the hairdressers, who was fashionably dressed and was the obvious owner of 'Formositas'.

His face brightened when he saw Narcissa and waltzed (or rather, minced) over to them, kissing her on both cheeks. "Narcissa, what a pleasure to see you, but I thought you weren't coming in for another week."

"Yes well you see, I've brought Hermione here last minute. They're all going out tonight."

"Hermione Granger, wow, I feel honoured to meet you at last." He said, placing a kiss on her hand, making Hermione blush slightly. She wasn't used to this sort of attention having been practically locked away for several years.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too." Hermione replied.

"And Pansy, it's lovely to see you again honey." Paolo said honestly turning to the Slytherin girl.

"You too Paolo."

"So, where are you going ladies? There must be another reason as to why you're here other than paying the wonderful Paolo a visit." Paolo looked at the three women.

"Well Hermione here is living with Draco now and we're going out in celebration for Hermione to have gotten rid of Ron Weasley." Pansy said.

"You're living with Draco? Is he still the charming young boy I remember? It's been a while since I've seen him as he refuses to have his hair cut by me, I have no idea why though." Paolo said glumly.

"You know how he is, doesn't want a fuss really." Narcissa sighed.

"Anyway, let's crack to work. What do you want to happen?" Paolo asked, assessing Hermione. "I'm thinking a trim on the hair, some layers, give a bit of life to it. I'll get my team to work on makeup, eyebrows, nails, the works. Hermione Granger, we're going to go all out."

"I really don't want to be a nuisance, if you have other things to be doing..." Hermione started.

"Don't be silly Hermione! There's nothing I would love to do more!" He said, taking her jacket and leading her to a hair booth. She sat down in one of the chairs that proved to be as comfortable as it looked. "Now, we're not going to colour your hair because it's such a gorgeous colour already darling." He turned her away from the mirror. "Nope, you're not allowed to see until the end." Paolo began washing her hair and he was true to his word, she didn't see until the end.

During Hermione's manicure and pedicure, where she was sat next to Pansy who was also having hers done, Paolo unfortunately changed the subject from being a war hero to Malfoy. And Hermione normally _hates_ war conversations.

"So, you're living with Draco now after splitting up with Mr Weasley?" Hermione nodded. "How's that proving?"

"Okay, I guess..."

Pansy intervened. "Rather well if you ask me, he got all of us to go and get Hermione's stuff back from Weasleys and Drake was sticking up for her the whole time. He punched him as well so I believe. So quite well considering their past."

"Oh so it's going extremely well then?" Paolo asked.

"He was just doing something nice for me after everything that had happened to me." Hermione reasoned.

"Honey, doing something nice would be letting you stay at his house for a few nights before you figured something out. Not punching your ex-boyfriend and letting you live with him."

"Well I will move out, when I've got money and can find somewhere to live." Hermione argued, denying that Draco would be _that_ nice.

Paolo turned to Pansy. "What's the bet that she ends up staying?" Pansy laughed. "You're the smartest witch I have probably ever met Hermione and Draco is very intelligent. I'm sure you'll get along really well." Paolo said, his eyes glistening.

"No, he's just doing me a favour."

"Whatever you say sweetie." Paolo laughed.

After having her hair and nails done, Hermione was waxed (extremely painfully) and then her makeup done. Pansy handed her a black dress with some black heels from their purchases earlier that day. The dress came to just above her knees and was simple yet elegant. It went in at the waist and floated down but hugged her in all the right places. To put it simply, she was eye candy.

She stepped out from the changing room in the strapless dress and heels. Narcissa gasped and Pansy grinned. Paolo looked like a proud parent/

"Perfect." Narcissa smiled.

"Can I look in a mirror now?" Hermione asked, getting agitated.

"Yes." Paolo said, leading her to a full length mirror.

Hermione gasped in shock when she saw herself. Her hair was wavy and smooth, looking nothing like it ever did in her school years. Her makeup was natural but with a light amount of liquid eyeliner on her lids and some mascara on her lashes. Her nails were shockingly red, making Hermione think of the Gryffindor colours. The dress flattered her perfectly and the shoes showed off her legs.

Hermione was finally able to dress up properly like she should have been doing before, but not being able to as she was under strict orders from Ronald Weasley. And she loved it now.

"That'll show Weasley." Pansy commented.

"I'll bet." Paolo added.

"You look beautiful Hermione." Narcissa said, the other two nodded in agreement.

Hermione turned to Paolo. "How am I going to repay you? I can't afford this, how much will it cost?"

"Do not worry about it Hermione, it's on me." Paolo said.

"No I couldn't possibly-"

"It's been my pleasure, to repay me just make sure you come back again and keep up the makeup and hair styling. I'll see it all in Witch Weekly Hermione!"

She laughed. "Thank you so much Paolo."

"Enough of that, you need to get to this restaurant."

"What time is it? We'll never make it in time!" She panicked.

"Don't worry, I owled Draco telling him we'll meet them at the restaurant." Pansy reassured, who had now changed into a navy blue dress herself.

"But what about all of my shopping? I can't take it to the restaurant."

"Do you just not want to go to this restaurant or something?" Pansy demanded.

"I think she's nervous." Paolo suggested.

"I'm not nervous." Hermione denied.

"Hermione, I will take all of your stuff back to the manor and you can come and collect it from me, in fact you and Draco could come for brunch tomorrow." Narcissa suggested.

"Fine, if you don't mind, of course."

"Oh it's no trouble Hermione."

"So..." Pansy began, gripping Hermione's arm, leading her to the door. "...We need to get going because Draco will be wondering where you are."

"Why would he be wondering where I am, what about you?"

Pansy glanced at Paolo and Narcissa smirking. "Because you're his roommate and you know, he wants to make sure that we've not killed you or something."

"And we wouldn't want him to think that." Narcissa said. "Now stop delaying and go to the restaurant before you're really late, I'll see you tomorrow Hermione. Goodbye Pansy."

And with that, Pansy dragged Hermione out of the salon to walk down the street to the restaurant leaving Paolo and Narcissa smirking like Slytherins.

"I give it a month." Paolo murmured.

"I think he'll be persuaded after tonight."

"You got that right Mrs Malfoy."

**A/N: **Please Review!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter 8 – Cosmopolitan **

Smart casual? This place was not smart casual. It was a good job she had decided to go shopping with Pansy and Narcissa. As weird as that concept still was.

The Bluebell was a swanky, up-market restaurant crowded with the wealthy and the glamorous. They certainly weren't in Knockturn Alley. The restaurant had a good atmosphere with the soft lighting and blue accents, everyone was enjoying themselves there. Why is it that Malfoy and his gang were so rich? Hermione did not fit in.

Pansy led her through groups of people past the bar and towards the tables in search of the Slytherin group. It seemed Pansy knew where she was going.

"I can't believe they would spend so long shopping." Draco said to Blaise who was sat opposite him at the table.

"You obviously don't know Pansy very well-" Blaise's eyes flickered to a pair of women approaching the table and had to do a double take. "Bloody hell."

"What?" Draco turned to look at what Blaise was staring at, along with everyone else on their table, and the rest of the restaurant it seemed.

Coming towards them was Pansy and Hermione who walked whilst linking arms and laughing about something. Pansy had obviously taken it upon herself to befriend the Gryffindor on their shopping trip.

Draco was in shock. Granger looked, dare he say it, stunning. He couldn't believe his eyes. Where had she been hiding these past few years? She should definitely wear things like this more often. Maybe they should go out tomorrow night as well...

Draco looked Hermione up and down appreciatively, causing her to blush as she reached the table. "Sorry we're late, didn't quite realise the time."

"It's fine." Draco gulped; he would have forgiven her for anything right about now.

"I must say Granger, you scrub up well." Blaise commented.

Not used to the compliments, she turned a shade pinker. "Thanks Blaise."

Draco stood up to pull the chair out for Hermione which was next to him and opposite Pansy. Hermione looked around the table at the new members of the group that had not been there to get her stuff back. It included Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode. After greeting them, she turned to Theo who had drawn her attention.

"It's about time you got here Hermione; Draco was starting to get agitated."

"I was not!" Draco argued.

"Trust me, you were." Goyle said. It was one of the first times Hermione had heard him speak, apart from in Hogwarts obviously. Malfoy had told her how reserved he was after the war and how he had never truly gotten over the death of Crabbe.

"Whatever, I'm not going to go into this now." Malfoy sighed as the waitress came over and got their drinks order. All of the men ordered beer or firewhiskey whilst the women got wine and cocktails. "Surprised you're not having orange juice Theo."

"Do not start that again." Blaise whined, wrapping his arm around Pansy's shoulders out of habit.

As their drinks arrived, Draco held his drink up to toast. "This is to Hermione, for getting rid of Weasel. May he go to hell." Everyone raised their glass to that. Who knew the Slytherin group could be so supportive?

Everyone took a sip of their drink and went back to their conversations. After everyone had finished eating one of the best meals Hermione had ever had, she went to the ladies room with Tracey.

They were currently stood in front of the mirrors checking that their makeup was still intact. Hermione normally laughed at the girls who did this but it was a shame to put Paolo's work to waste. Tracey turned to Hermione. "I'm loving the new look Hermione, is it anything to do with you now living with a certain blonde boy?"

"What? No way Tracey!" Hermione laughed at her colleague and friend.

"I have to ask, it wouldn't be normal if I didn't." She reasoned.

"I suppose, but definitely not. I wouldn't even say we were friends. He's just doing me a favour, probably feels guilty for everything in school."

"You should give him a chance, start fresh. He really is a good guy. I wouldn't be friends with him if he wasn't." She laughed. "I wish you'd let me introduce you to my friends sooner if we'd known you get on so well. Shopping with Pansy and Mrs Malfoy? Whatever next, Quidditch with all the guys?"

"No, you'd never catch me playing Quidditch." Hermione smiled. "And I'm shocked about Pansy, she's nothing like I thought she'd be. But I guess, old habits die hard, somewhere in the back of my mind I keep thinking that you elite purebloods look at me, a muggleborn, and the way you'd been taught in the war."

"They've changed Hermione, we've all changed. Even you. I don't see you buddying up to the Weasley's anymore, which I must say is an improvement. Yes, Drake can be a bit annoying or arrogant, but he's nothing like he was in school. Blaise is still a bit vain; you've probably noticed him checking himself out in a glass or something. Marcus is still a bit aggressive, but come on, he plays Quidditch so he just likes competition. They're a relatively normal bunch if you forget the past."

"I know and I'm going to try to, and I'm going to forget all about the Weasel." Hermione giggled, using Malfoy's nickname for the redhead.

Tracey sniggered. "I'm glad you left him Hermione, I could tell you weren't happy. And you look happier tonight, like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. That will show him! I can't wait until Ron sees you and your new look and your new friends!" She smiled devilishly.

"He'd probably have a heart attack if he found out I was living with Malfoy. He thinks that we're friends already because he came with me to get my stuff back. He looked like he'd seen a ghost."

"He deserves it after what he did to you."

"Thanks Tracey."

"Come on, we better get back to the table before Draco files a missing person report." She said, giving Hermione a quick hug.

"Whatever, you can get me a drink sometime for all those Malfoy hints." Hermione laughed.

They reached the table giggling hysterically. "What are you two practically wetting yourself about?" Theo asked. "And what took you so long?"

"We were having a heart to heart." Tracey replied.

"In the toilet?" Theo questioned Tracey, who he had been dating for three years now.

"No, in the kitchens. Yes, in the toilet. They're very nice toilets, lots of lovely people in there." Tracey guffawed and Hermione joined in. As they were leaving the restrooms one of the chefs had walked in thinking it was the men's bathrooms and tripped over the bin when he realised and the two women hadn't been able to stop laughing since.

"What were they fed?" Malfoy pondered, making them laugh even more.

"I just don't understand what's so funny!" Blaise exclaimed.

"Let's just leave them until it passes, best not to leave yet or they'll fall over each other from laughing so much." Theo shouldn't have said that, the hysterical laughter increased. It didn't help that they'd had a few cocktails that evening. "What? What did I say?"

"Merlin knows." Draco replied, watching the two girls with amusement. He was glad to see that Hermione was forgetting about the Weasel.

After Hermione's and Tracey's outbursts, the night was even more light-hearted, probably with the increase of alcohol consumption. Hermione got talking to Daphne and Millicent as well, although she was continuously reminded of when she turned into Millicent's cat during second year. After a few more drinks Hermione ended up telling the group that story much to their amusement. She was never going to live this down, why did she have that last Cosmopolitan cocktail?

When Malfoy paid for the bill rather generously with the rest of the men, Hermione tried to offer to at least pay her share. But Malfoy obviously refused. "No you wouldn't have come out tonight if it wasn't for me so I'm paying."

"Yes but you wouldn't have gone out if it wasn't for me either, this was a forgetting Ron Weasley celebration. You probably forgot about him years ago!"

"No, that's not true, his red hair haunts me so it's difficult to forget." He said, making Hermione laugh. "And I'm doing the gentlemanly thing and paying, what on earth would my mother say?"

"You've got a point there." Narcissa would probably have his head for not paying for her. "So thank you Malfoy." Malfoy just looked smug. "And wipe that smirk off your face." She laughed and the comment only made him smile more.

"Come on guys, let's get out of here." Draco said, turning to the rest of the group.

Considering the fact that everyone had had quite a bit to drink, they managed to get out of The Bluebell's doors fairly well, apart from Hermione, Pansy and Tracey all having to link arms to stay upright and giggling at everything, whilst Malfoy, Blaise and Theo were preparing themselves for Tracey to fall over (who was as drunk as an Irish man on St. Patricks Day) and to take the other girls down with her. Daphne, Millicent, Marcus and Goyle were all walking ahead placing bets on how long it will take for Hermione and Draco to get together now that they were living together. Plus, it's only a matter of time before Pansy decides to play matchmaker.

Hermione and Tracy had now filled Pansy in on the chef nearly falling over and they were now howling with laughter. Tracey decided that she wanted to rein act it and just as she unattached herself from Hermione she stopped dead in her tracks, stood by the other four Slytherin's ahead.

Hermione heard a "this won't be good" from Daphne before she saw the reason for their stop. Just ahead of her, staring at her linked arms with Pansy Parkinson, was Ginny Weasley.

Draco, Blaise and Theo saw her at the same time and Malfoy put a supporting hand on the small of Hermione's back. It was a small gesture, but it meant a lot bearing in mind their past. His reassurance in a time where she thought she had no one was a relief.

Pansy leaned in to whisper "if you want me to slap her, I have absolutely nothing against that."

"It's fine Pansy, hopefully she'll fall down a drain in the street." Yes, she definitely shouldn't have had that last cocktail.

"I didn't believe my brother when he told me, but it seems you have, in fact made friends with the snakes." Ginny spat, giving a distasteful look at Pansy. She needs to look at herself, wearing a skirt that short it could be classed as a belt and a top that left little to the imagination. She had turned into such a classy young woman. There were two other girls with her who had a similar sense of style. Or lack of. It seemed that they had been turned away from a nearby club. This part of town was obviously too good for the likes of Ginny Weasley.

"And your problem is?" Hermione asked.

"I'm just suggesting that you get your priorities sorted. You are so stupid that my brother even had to hit you and now you're friends with them? Wow Hermione, you've really done well there.." She said, slowly clapping and stepping forwards.

"Hermione didn't deserve to be hit by your brother; no one deserves to get hit like that." Blaise said.

"Except maybe you, would you like me to demonstrate?" Pansy said, walking forwards and unlinking her arm from Hermione's.

"She's not even worth it Pansy. The amount of makeup she has on would cushion the blow." Hermione said, standing by Pansy. It seemed that they'd grown inseparable throughout the night.

"I see you've invested in some makeup Hermione." Ginny sneered. "Realise you were too ugly?"

"She's better looking than you Weaslette any day, with or without makeup." Malfoy stepped in, bless him.

"And at least she knows how to be subtle, unlike you." Tracey spoke up.

"Whatever, at least I'll get a guy. My brother was the only one that ever liked her. And even _that_ was a stretch." Ginny said.

"She already has a guy actually." Pansy challenged, glaring at the ginger girl.

Ginny guffawed. "Oh really? Who?"

"Draco."

"What?" Ginny raised her eyebrows, as Hermione tried to hit Pansy so that Ginny wouldn't notice. Now look what she'd done. Whenever she saw any of the Weasley family she was going to have to pretend that she dated Draco Malfoy. Great. "Oh like he'd go out with _her_."

Malfoy moved to put his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "Well actually I am as I prefer girls who don't put out every day and are actually intelligent. And anyway, we already live together." What is he playing at? Why is he going along with this? Was Hermione missing something? Now they were both going to have to pretend.

"I, well- you're wasting your time there. She won't do anything. You'll end up hitting her like my brother did."

"Yeah well we're not all pricks like your brother. I would never hit a woman, never." Draco said, deadly serious.

"That's what my brother thought."

"Your brother and I are very different people."

"Ginny, why are you even here?" Hermione asked. "Shouldn't you be tricking some poor guy into sleeping with you?"

"Whatever Hermione, you're just jealous of me."

"Why on earth would she be jealous of you? You're a trampy bitch!" Pansy defended Hermione.

"Well said Pans." Blaise smiled.

"We're leaving now because we've got better things to do than talk to you." Hermione led Malfoy away and the rest followed, leaving Ginny and her two slutty friends behind, staring after them dumbfounded.

Pansy caught up with Hermione again. "Yep, I really do hope she falls down a drain."

Draco pulled his arm away from Hermione's shoulder which had still been there to allow Pansy and Hermione to hug each other when they'd reached the apparation point. It seemed they'd become strangely close that day. Draco didn't know if it was a good thing or not.

When everyone had said goodbye, they apparated home. Malfoy side-apparated with Hermione to be on the safe side, she _had_ had quite a bit to drink. Draco unlocked the front door and followed Hermione into the house. They went into the living room and sat down.

"Thank you for tonight Malfoy. I had a really good night." She smiled at him.

"Even though you saw Weaslette?"

"It was still the best night I'd had in a long time, and she wasn't there for very long so the good outweighed the bad."

"Good." Was all Malfoy said. They sat in comfortable silence for a little while longer.

"I could just curl up with a duvet and watch a movie whilst eating Ben & Jerry's right now. I wish you had a TV."

"A what?"

"A television. Didn't you learn about them in muggle studies?"

"I didn't do muggle studies."

"Of course you didn't. Anyway you watch programmes or films on them."

"Why would you want to do that?" Draco asked, confused.

"Because it's interesting. Have you ever seen a play or been to the theatre?"

"Yeah once or twice when my mom forced me."

"Well it's like that, but you're not actually there."

"Oh..."

"We should go to the cinema!" Seeing Draco's questioning look, she continued. "Where they show films..."

"What, now?"

"Well it would probably be closing now, how about tomorrow night?" Hermione asked, getting excited. Who'd have thought she'd be taking Draco Malfoy to a muggle cinema.

"Yeah, why not?" he agreed, looking slightly uneasy.

"Sorted! What type of film do you want to see? Action, romance, horror, comedy, sci-fi?"

"I have no idea, it's up to you."

"We'll just see what's on when we get there." Hermione grinned.

"And what's Ben and Je- Je-"

"Ben and Jerry's?"

"Yeah that."

"Only the best ice cream ever made. We'll have to get some tomorrow."

"Cool."

"Oh and by the way, we're going for brunch at your parents tomorrow."

"What?" Draco looked alarmed. "When did this get decided?"

"Earlier when we were shopping and at the salon."

"Formositas?" Hermione nodded. "How was Paolo?"

"Good, he asked about you. Your mother filled him in."

"Of course she did."

"And he did an amazing job."

"Yeah, you look really good Granger. Weasel will be jealous."

"Thanks, and I really don't care about Ron anymore. I haven't for a long time. He's dead to me." Hermione said honestly.

"That's the spirit!" said Draco brightly, causing Hermione to laugh.

"Well I better go to bed if we're going to your parents tomorrow. I'm nervous, the last time I was there-"

"You'll be fine; they don't even use that room anymore. It's a completely different place, trust me."

Trust Malfoy? Having brunch at Malfoy Manor with Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy? What is the world coming to?

**A/N: **Okay so that was a pretty long chapter. Next chapter: Malfoy Manor.

You know the drill, please review, add to favourites and follow! And thanks to those who have already done so!

I'm not very sure when I will next get to update because of exams etc. coming up, but I will do my best to have it up as soon as possible!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay in the update! I've been trying to get it posted as soon as possible. Thank you for being patient, and for those that asked, I don't plan on going on hiatus.

**Chapter 9: Malfoy Manor**

"I don't think I can do this." Hermione said.

"I thought you were in Gryffindor? You're supposed to be brave and courageous." Malfoy said. "That room hasn't been used since it happened. My parents are so guilty about what happened to you in there, as well as me."

The two of them were currently stood outside the beautiful Malfoy Manor in the middle of Wiltshire. They'd been walking to the door when Hermione had paused.

"What if they don't like me?"

"Granger, you already had brunch with them once and you've spent the day shopping and pampering with my mother. They wouldn't have invited you if they didn't like you."

It was at that moment that the door opened to show Lucius Malfoy. "You're more than welcome to stand outside the door all day but if you're continuously going to decide whether you want to come in or not, quite loudly may I add, I would prefer it if you came inside before your mother has a panic on whether Miss Granger here has forgiven her for what happened in this house."

"No, no, I have forgiven her. There was nothing she, or any of you, could have done. It wasn't her fault." Now Hermione felt guilty.

"So I take it you're going to come in?"

"Yes, sorry." Hermione looked for reassurance from Malfoy. She wasn't used to being civil with Lucius Malfoy. That was just weird.

They entered the hallway of the manor which was exquisitely decorated, the room was bright and had natural colouring, similar to Malfoy's house. Maybe Narcissa had decorated there as well. Hermione followed the two Malfoy's through to a small dining room with a table full of amazing food. How on earth does this family remain in good shape?

Narcissa stood up from where she was sat at the table sipping her tea and reading the Daily Prophet She beamed when she saw them. "Hermione!" She exclaimed, pulling her in for a hug. "How are you? You look wonderful!"

"Thank you, and I'm very well. And you?" Hermione replied, pulling away from Narcissa.

"I'm very well dear, and very happy that you kept on top of your hair and make up."

"Well I didn't want to let Paolo's good work go to waste." Hermione smiled, following Narcissa to the table.

"Yes, hello to you too mother. I'm great, thank you for asking." Malfoy said, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Sorry dear." Narcissa brushed it off and continued to talk to Hermione.

"Get used to it, I've had to." Lucius said to his son.

"How was last night?" Narcissa asked the two of them once Draco and Lucius had sat down.

"It was good until we bumped into Ginny when we were leaving." Hermione replied.

"I'm fed up with that family." Hermione heard Lucius mutter.

"What did she say?" Narcissa asked.

"Just that I need to get my priorities sorted and talking about my apparent poor choice in friends, you know the usual." Hermione laughed.

"At least it hasn't got you down."

"I'm just not bothered anymore really."

"Did you have a good time at The Bluebell though?"

"I think Hermione had a good time." Draco chipped in. "Became best friends with Pansy. Then she was constantly giggling with her and Tracey about something. No one understood what they were going on about half the night." At least he hadn't mentioned him pretending to be her girlfriend to Ginny.

"Well at least you were having fun Hermione; I imagine you didn't have much of that with Mr Weasley."

"No, I certainly didn't." Hermione laughed.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the day?" Narcissa asked.

"We're going to the cinema." Draco began.

"He didn't know what one was so I thought I'd show him." Hermione said, what on earth were they going to think about her taking their son to a muggle cinema?

"How exciting!" That apparently. Narcissa continued. "What film are you going to see?"

"How is it that you know more about muggle cinemas than I do?" Draco questioned his mother.

"I read about these things Draco."

"Where?" Draco asked, surprised. "What do you read?"

"I've got a few things on muggle things, you can borrow them if you want." Narcissa smiled at her son.

"Erm, I think I'm alright." Draco said.

"They're very interesting, you could learn a lot."

"She tried to get me to read them as well." Lucius said. "Look how well that turned out."

"I thought you read them Lucius."

"Well you thought wrong I'm afraid."

"Well you should read them, I'm sure at some point they'll come in useful."

"I'll definitely read them then." Lucius said, then turned to his son and whispered "I'm never going to read them." Narcissa heard regardless. Just imagine Lucius Malfoy reading a book on muggle things. The hilarity.

"What time are you going to the cinema anyway?"

"This evening."

"How I miss being young, going to the movies, bowling, eating pizza."

"When in God's name did you go to the movies or bowling?" Lucius asked incredulously.

"Well I didn't exactly, but I could have. I read about youngsters always doing it in another muggle book. What fun they must have. You should go bowling as well!"

"Maybe when there's a whole group of us going..." Hermione suggested.

"Aren't we a bit old for that now?" Draco asked. He actually knew what bowling was, thanks to Blaise explaining it to him once.

Lucius said "yes" at the exact same time Narcissa exclaimed "No!"

"I think we'll go with fathers vote on this one." Draco said as Hermione laughed at his parents.

"Hermione you'll have to take us to the movies at some point, maybe we can all go and see a rom-com." Narcissa said, sweetly.

"A rom-com?" Draco asked, puzzled.

"A romantic comedy" Hermione answered.

"Women." Lucius muttered, shaking his head.

"I'm sure you'd enjoy it!" Narcissa said.

"I'm washing my hair that day." Lucius said dryly.

After they'd finished eating, Narcissa turned to Hermione. "Would you like to take a walk with me in the grounds? Afterwards, I promise that Draco will take you to look at the library, it's not as extent as Hogwarts but..."

"I would love to." Hermione replied, smiling.

Once Narcissa and Hermione had left, Lucius turned to his son. "So you haven't spoken to Miss Granger about the marriage then?"

"No I haven't." Draco said. "How do you expect me to do it? Over dinner? I can't just say 'Hermione pass me the salt please, oh by the way, want to get married because it could do us both some favours"

"Well you don't have to do it whilst asking for the salt."

"Oh, so the pepper? No, I'm just waiting for the right time."

"Well do it soon before someone else does, this is Hermione Granger, and plenty of men will be after her. Especially when they hear of her split from the Weasley boy."

"Fine, I'll do it soon." Draco said. "And it is really weird to hear you trying to persuade me to marry Hermione Granger. I thought you hated her with a passion?"

"I hate everyone with a passion, don't take it so personally." Lucius responded.

"You have a beautiful garden Mrs Malfoy." Hermione said fondly. "In fact I don't think I could call it a garden, it's more of a masterpiece."

"Thank you Hermione, I've spent a lot of time on it." Narcissa said. "I hope you can visit more often."

"I will; it's really nice here." There was an array of colourful flowers in the manor grounds with long stretches of lawn where she could just imagine Malfoy playing Quidditch when he was a little boy. There were multiple benches dotted around which would be her perfect location to sit and read a book in the summer months. It truly was a magnificent garden.

"It's a bit quiet though with just myself and Lucius living here, Draco only visits occasionally, and that's normally when I force him into it." Narcissa said sadly.

"He's a busy man, and now that I've moved in I'm probably keeping him more occupied than he likes to be. I bet he can't wait for me to move out." Hermione said light-heartedly.

"Don't be silly." Narcissa smiled and turned to face Hermione. "You'll do good things for him, I just know it. He's a very different man from when he was younger, but I know you will change him even more." Hermione was speechless, although that didn't matter because Narcissa soon changed the subject. "This house just needs a family to occupy it, with little Malfoy children running around, it would be perfect."

"Running? They'll be flying around. No doubt when he has kids, he'll be teaching them to fly a broomstick before their first steps." The two women laughed.

"That's very true, do you fly Hermione?"

"Not really no, to be honest with you, I'm a bit scared of falling."

"I imagine your children will be very intelligent." Narcissa said, eyes glistening.

"I hope so." Hermione laughed. "But I wouldn't want them to have my fear of flying."

"Them? So you want more than one child? I'm glad, Draco didn't really have many people to turn to when he was younger. Only the others whenever they could come round, but most of the time it was just him and the house elves. I vaguely remember him playing wizards chess for about a week straight with Dobby. Dobby was his favourite house elf, mine too, I was always fond of that elf. I wonder where he is now."

"Narcissa... Dobby is... Dobby died in the war." Hermione was gobsmacked that she didn't already know.

"What, how?" Narcissa exclaimed.

"When he saved us from Bellatrix, here, she threw her knife as we were apparating away and it, well, it hit him." Hermione replied sadly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Bellatrix. I hate being associated with her. I'm so sorry for what she did to you Hermione, especially under my own roof, right in front of me and my family."

"It's okay; honestly, it's completely in the past and forgotten. You couldn't have done anything. You and your family would have been killed so I completely understand."

"She used it on me. The curse. The Dark Lord had used it on Draco for not completing his task of killing Professor Dumbledore. I tried to stop him, naturally, and my own sister used it on me. Draco was furiously sickened afterwards. Mad for me trying to stop the Dark Lord and getting myself tortured, he was incredibly upset after. I am so proud of him for not going through with it and killing Dumbledore. He told me beforehand that he didn't want to, that he couldn't. I was relieved that the Dark Lord hadn't managed to get under his skin and force him. Then of course Draco didn't kill the headmaster. He was seen as a coward, but he's the bravest man I know. He took the cruciatus curse for his family multiple times, how is that being a coward?"

"People are just too naive to see it." Hermione agreed. The pair sat down on one of the benches overlooking a pond filled with patterned fish and ducks.

"He had to allow the death eaters into Hogwarts. The Dark Lord told him that if he didn't then he would kill Draco as well as Lucius and I. I know he didn't do it for himself, he did it for myself and his father."

"He's very lucky to have a mother like you."

"Thank you Hermione, you don't realize how much that means to me."

"I do. I wish I still had my mother. She would've loved this garden." Hermione looked away from Narcissa, trying to hide the tears in her eyes, but she'd already seen.

Narcissa clasped her hand in her own. "I'm very sorry for what happened to your parents. The worst part of it for them was probably them knowing that they were going to be leaving you. There is nothing more special than a mother and daughter relationship. Boys will never talk to you. So if you ever need to talk about anything Hermione, my door is always open."

"Thank you." Hermione attempted a smile.

"I'm glad you know how much Draco has tried to change." Narcissa said after a few moments of comfortable silence. "No one else wants to notice."

"They will." Hermione reassured. "In time, they'll realize."

"You sound so sure."

"I am. He was doing the right thing."

"Other than what happened to you Hermione, if only it were in a different way, I'm glad Draco found you. Imagine that, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger living together. After a while I'm sure you'll find yourself thinking of Draco as a friend, and he is really quite protective of his friends."

"Well I suppose we'll have to learn to deal with each other now that we're living together."

"That you will."

Just then, the sun began to creep out from behind the clouds, glowing on the two women. Hermione heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Malfoy walking towards them.

"I was wondering where you two had gone." He said, coming to stand in front of them. "What are you talking about?"

"You." Narcissa said simply.

"I hope it was all good things."

"The best." Narcissa smiled.

"Obviously." He laughed, jokingly. "Well Granger, shall we head to the library? I'm surprised you haven't burst with excitement at the prospect of more books."

"Draco don't call Hermione by her surname. Call her Hermione." Narcissa reprimanded.

"Sorry. Hermione, shall we head to the library?"

"Yes, thank you." Hermione stood up with the elder witch following. The three of them walked back to the manor and Draco then led Hermione up the stairs to the library. Malfoy opened a set of double doors and she followed him through. She was in awe. He'd said it wasn't like the Hogwarts library. It was certainly close enough.

There were rows and rows of mahogany bookshelves filled to the brim of old and new books, all in alphabetical order. She imagined that some of these books were first editions, one-off editions and some that couldn't even be found in the restricted section of Hogwarts. It was like heaven. In the middle of the room there were two loveseats facing each other with a coffee table in between and two window seats along the far wall. If Hermione lived here, she'd never leave this room.

"Wow." It was the only thing Hermione could even think to say.

"I thought you'd like it." Malfoy smiled.

"Why did you ever move out? When you could stay and have this library." She said, causing him to laugh.

"I can't live with my parents forever."

"I would have made an exception for this."

"Well you _are_ Hermione Granger, biggest bookworm I know."

"I hate it when you put it like that." She said, smiling anyway.

"Sorry, but it's true."

"I'm a fan of books, what can I say?"

"I used to think I was into books, and then I met you." Malfoy said, moving towards one of the window seats. Hermione followed him and sat down next to him, looking out the window.

"This is perfect. I can just imagine lying here reading a book on a cold day, with a big jumper and some hot chocolate." She smiled.

"Remind me to bring you back to do just that on a day that you're _not_ dragging me to the cinema."

"I'm not _dragging_ you."

"Oh, because Draco Malfoy would really go to a cinema by himself." He said.

"Whatever, you'll love it."

After looking at the books once more they left the library and went to say goodbye to his parents.

"Hermione please make sure you come back and visit soon." Narcissa said. "And we'll have to go for tea next week."

"I'll be sure to come back Narcissa."

"I'm sure there is also a book or two calling your name, and you can borrow them anytime." The elder witch smiled.

"Of course, thank you." Hermione laughed.

"Have you got everything from the shopping trip?"

"Yes I think so. Thank you for looking after it for me."

"Not a problem dear, well you two best be off. I don't want you to miss your film." Narcissa pulled Hermione in for a hug, kissing both cheeks, and then doing the same to Draco.

"Thank you for the brunch Mr and Mrs Malfoy." Hermione said.

"It's okay, we'll see you next Sunday."

As Hermione and Malfoy were walking up the drive to the apparation point, Draco turned to her. "I think you're my mother's new best friend."

"I'm fine with that." Hermione chuckled. "Your mother is a lovely woman, you're lucky to have her."

"Yeah I am." He smiled.

**A/N:** Please review. I will do the next chapter as quickly as possible and I hope you liked this one!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Thank you to everyone who has supported the story so far and I really hope you're enjoying it. I know it sometimes takes me a long time to update it but I've been incredibly busy balancing this with college work, as well as writing an Avengers fic, and I've just come back off my holiday. Thank you to everyone who has added this to their favourite stories and followed it etc. The 'something unexpected' is coming up...

I have already posted this chapter today (2nd of September 13) but I've just updated it to make something more definite at the end of the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Show him up**

"This is so weird."

"No it's not, it's fine." Hermione laughed at Malfoy's expense. "Come on we need to decide what film to watch. Action? Like gun fights and car chases? Horror? That's self-explanatory. I can't imagine you want to see a romance film. Maybe a comedy?"

"I think action, it sounds the most interesting." Malfoy eventually decided.

"Mission: Impossible it is then." Hermione said, walking to the ticket booth giving him the only option to follow. The two of them were in an old cinema in the middle of muggle London where he looked remarkably out of place to Hermione, yet she doubted anyone else noticed his discomfort. Hermione paid for their tickets and led him to the ice cream parlour. "What flavour do you want?"

Draco looked up to see a big 'Ben & Jerry's' sign, so this is what she'd been banging on about. "I have no idea, you pick for me."

"Okay..." Hermione turned to the saleswoman. "Could we please have two cookie dough's please? With chocolate sauce."

"Cookie dough flavoured ice cream? The muggles have impressed me." Malfoy whispered in her ear from behind causing Hermione's breath to hitch. She wasn't quite sure what to think about their close proximity, she wasn't even sure if Malfoy realized.

"Trust me, you'll love it." She smiled, refusing to let herself flush red in the face.

The saleswoman handed the ice cream over and gave Draco an appreciative once-over. In all fairness, he probably was the best looking guy in the cinema, but Hermione would never admit that to anyone.

"Do you want me to pay? You already bought the tickets." Malfoy said.

"No it's fine, I'm sort of paying you back for letting me live with you."

"It's not very gentlemanly of me."

Hermione laughed. "Well you can pay next time then." Next time? She couldn't believe she'd just said that. Who says there's going to be a next time? He could hate this whole experience for all she knew.

"It's a deal." He obviously seemed to think nothing of it.

She led him to the screen that was showing their film and sat down towards the back where they both tucked into their ice cream.

"You're right, this is good." Malfoy said. "In fact, it's probably the best ice cream I've ever had."

"Told you."

"I think I'm going to have to come to the cinema again, just for this."

"You can get it from a muggle supermarket as well."

"I think we should go food shopping tomorrow." He turned to her.

"That's fine by me; you actually don't have any food in your house anyway."

"Sorted." He smiled.

...

Once the film was over, and after much explaining of the difference between the film trailers and the actual film, yet it being so entertaining how engrossed he was in the film, Malfoy and Hermione apparated home. "Thank you for tonight Hermione, it's not like I'd go to a muggle cinema on my own so..."

It sounded foreign, her name coming from him, but she supposed he wanted to call her that because of his mother scolding him for being rude. "It's fine Mal- Draco, and I owe you anyway." She smiled. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Hermione, wait." She stopped her journey up the stairs to her room and looked at him expectantly. He looked like he was debating whether to say anything or not. "By the way, you look really nice today, as well as the other night at The Bluebell, I forgot to mention it."

"Thank you, you didn't look too bad yourself." She replied, almost smirking. She didn't really know what else to say. He _did_ look good. He was currently wearing muggle clothes including skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt that _really_ emphasised his muscles. Not that paid that much attention to his appearance of course. She was obviously delirious.

"Good night, again..." He said smiling.

"Night." She turned away and walked up the stairs thinking to herself, 'what the hell was that?'

...

Hermione had finally fallen asleep when she heard someone shouting in the streets outside, and was suddenly wide awake again. She threw off the thick duvet and walked over to the window, pulling the curtain to see what was going on. It was just some drunk muggles stumbling home after a night out. She had never even been to a night club, Ron had never let her. She'd have to get Pansy to take her some time.

Since she was already up, she decided to go to the bathroom. She walked in, shut the door and turned to switch the light on. As she flicked the switch, she felt hands wrap around her throat and looked up to see Ron Weasley's venomous expression, his face telling her that he was preparing to kill her.

"Hi Granger, cosying up to Malfoy already? We've barely just broken up, and you're already with someone else? You're such a slut. I can't believe you're living together, how sweet. Now I'm going to kill you for what you did to me. I'm going to ruin you." He said, spitting his words at her.

She tried to say something back, anything. But the grip on her neck was much too tight and she was gradually beginning to see stars. She tried to kick him and his grip faltered, so she managed to let out a scream, hoping someone would hear her. Instantly he gripped her harder than ever, causing her head to start feeling heavy.

"Never, ever, scream again. Do you ever shut up? You have to be silent, for once in your life, be quiet! You were constantly shouting at me before, so now you have to shut up!"

Hermione started to lose consciousness, knowing that she was coming to the end. Her eyes flickered shut, like a dying flame, she was slipping into blackness. Just as the life was leaving her body, she heard another voice shouting her name in the distance. Then she knew, she had to _wake up._

...

Her eyes flew open and she began to cough immediately, choking on the claustrophobic-feeling air. Tears were streaming down her face at a rapid pace and she was shaking uncontrollably. She blinked multiple times and looked around, becoming aware that she was in her room at Malfoy's house. And Malfoy himself? He was sat on the bed next to her looking genuinely concerned for her. It dawned on her then that it was his voice that she'd heard, the voice that had encouraged her to wake up from that god-awful nightmare. Ron Weasley trying to kill her.

She knew that she was vulnerable in front of him, she didn't care that he was probably judging her. But in that moment, Malfoy was there for her, with her puffy red eyes and crazy hair. He didn't say anything, and neither did she. She knew that she'd regret it later, but she broke down to the man that she once hated. A new wave of tears took over her and Malfoy moved closer to her, to comfort her. She all but fell into his open arms and sobbed into his shirt, most likely soaking it. But he didn't care, he was just there for her.

He was sat there, his back resting against the pillows, and she was curled up next to him. His arms were wrapped around her protectively and one thing that she was certain about was that Malfoy _would _protect her. The two of them must have sat there for about an hour, whilst she drenched his shirt and he rubbed her back soothingly. She didn't know how he did it, but he managed to calm her down, his presence alone did. Ron had never calmed her down; he'd always been the source of the problems. So _this_ was completely new.

Eventually, when the tears died down, she stayed in that position for a minute anyway. "Sorry" she mumbled as she sat up slowly, knowing he was probably uncomfortable in this situation. Like she was now.

He looked at her like she was a crazy woman. "Hermione, you have nothing to be sorry about." He rested his hands on her shoulders as she sat in front of him. "Why on earth would you say sorry?"

"Well, when you said I could move in, I bet you didn't expect the emotional baggage as well." She replied, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"It's fine, honestly."

"It was about Ron." She said bluntly, looking up at him. "He was trying to kill me."

"I'm sorry." He said sympathetically.

"Now you're the one saying sorry, _you _didn't try to kill me." She laughed roughly, choking on her tears.

"Just remember Hermione, he can't get you here. If he does, I'm here. Despite our past, I will protect you from him if the need arises. I know you can protect yourself, but if you do allow me to give you a little bit of help, I will." He smiled sincerely at her.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it. I just hope nothing dreadful happens; he's so overdramatic that I can just imagine him doing something crazy to get back at me. He always holds a grudge."

"I won't let anything happen, I promise."

"I can't burden you with that promise; I don't want you to have to look after me 24/7. You have better things to be doing."

"I'm not going to let Weasley mess with any of my friends, and that includes you."

"Thank you Draco."

"To be honest, I think you should show Weasley what he is missing." Hermione looked him in the eye, confused at what he was getting at. "You know, tell the world that you broke up with him, not the other way round because of everything he did. No doubt he will try and pin the blame on you, pin the blame on him first. You need to show him up. Prove to everyone that _he's_ the bad guy, not _you. _Go out with some other guy to show him that he's going to regret it." This was unexpected.

"Yeah, like who?" She said, looking away. Who would want to date her now?

"Me."

"What?" Hermione practically shouted, startled.

"Me." He said like it was the most normal suggestion ever. "We don't actually have to be dating, just pretending. Hermione, what do you think about having a marriage of convenience?"

"Woah! Slow down! Easy tiger. Moving a bit fast, aren't you?" Hermione exclaimed. "I repeat: what?" How could he suggest something so ludicrous?

"Let me put it this way: you need money for your school, you are also showing the Wizarding World that you don't care what they think and putting the Weasley's in their place. You said so yourself that the Weasel is capable of anything and is likely to come after you, I can look after you. Be your protection." Draco reasoned. Her nightmare was being slowly forgotten.

"And what's in it for you?" Hermione asked, knowing that there would be an ulterior motive. He wasn't doing this out of the goodness of his heart, _that_ was for sure.

"Hermione, you see the way that people look at me. All they think when they see me is that I'm a Death Eater. Plus, I think it would make my mother eternally happy."

"What made you think of this crazy idea?"

"My parents came up with it, actually, and no that isn't why my mother is being friendly with you. She does just genuinely like you and want to be friends with you, even if you were to say no to... this."

"Why me?"

"For both our sakes. The Death Eater and the War Hero. I have the money to take care of you and your school. I can make sure that Weasley never lays a hand on you. Come on, who would win in a fight? Me or him?" He asked, trying to lighten the tense mood.

"You." She said honestly.

"You'll never have to worry about him again."

"But we haven't even dated. Or pretended to even date."

"Well let's start with that then. Date for a few months, then announce the 'engagement'. The press will have a field day. No one would believe it."

"Exactly."

"So we'd make them believe. Do loads of things together in public, which I'm sure we will be doing anyway because we're now living together. If we get Potter to believe it, everyone will. The Weasley's already think that we are." He had a point.

"And would we actually get married or pretend that we did?"

"Actually get married. No one would believe it if Potter wasn't there."

"True."

"What have you got to lose?" He asked.

"Absolutely nothing."

"So?"

"Can I think about it? It will probably be a yes because I've got nothing going for me in life at the moment, no offence."

"None taken."

"But if I do, it will be on one condition."

"Yes?"

"We have to pay Rita Skeeter a visit first."

"May I ask why? I thought you hated each other after what happened in fourth year."

"Well let's just say that she owes me and to be perfectly honest, I want to make Ron look like a fool. And who better than Rita Skeeter to achieve that?" Hermione smirked.

"Sounds like a plan, you're letting your inner Slytherin out. And once we've been to see Skeeter, you can quit your job."

"Why? How will I pay for things?" She faltered.

"Don't worry about that, I've got it covered. You're going to be spending all of your time setting up your school."

"You've got more money than is healthy. But, are you sure?"

"Positive. Just think about it..."

"I will."

"Thank you."

"No, Draco. I will do this. This marriage of convenience."

"What? Seriously?"

"You ask me and now you don't believe me?"

"I just didn't think you'd agree so soon."

"Just leave me to sleep before I change my mind." Hermione said, going back under her duvet and preparing to sleep.

"Okay, I will leave you to sleep now. If you need me, well, you know where I am." He stood up from her bed.

"Good night Draco, and thank you, for being there."

"You're welcome, sleep well." He turned, and left the room.

She looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:39 in the morning. After what had just happened, she deemed it unlikely that she'd be able to sleep. The whole thing played on her mind. Did she want a marriage of convenience with Draco Malfoy? Sure, he was being nice to her and everything, but getting married? Yep, she definitely wasn't going to get any sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed that chapter! Please review etc, it means a lot! Sorry if that proposal (sort of) was quite quick but I really want to get the story going and get to the drama! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW PLEASE.


End file.
